Role of mental health practitioner in infertility clinics: A review on past, present and future directions

Abstract

A large body of literature has emerged over the past four decades which highlights the need to address emotional needs in infertility and integrates psychological services within routine fertility care. Evidenced-based guidelines in most countries propagate that the mental health expert (MHP) plays a vital role as a team member in reducing the impact of infertility on the lives of patients, across all stages of treatment. In accordance with these global developments, inclusion of psychosocial care in fertility treatments is an upcoming trend in our nation. This review article brings forth the traditional role of MHP in infertility, compares patient-centered care with counseling, and elaborates on the guidelines on determinants of patient needs and suitability for structured psychological interventions. It also highlights the evidence-based studies on the application of psychotherapy in infertility.

The Need of Personalized Medicine in Coping with Stress during Infertility Treatment

“…Patel pointed to the important role of mental health experts in identifying and reducing stress and the need of integrating psychological care into a fertility treatment protocol. He also highlighted the importance of the use of psychotherapy in treating infertility in patients at risk [ 31 ]. Rooney claimed that psychological support for infertile women reduces anxiety and depression and may contribute to a higher treatment success rate [ 18 ].…”

What about fertility staff emotions? An explorative analysis of healthcare professionals’ subjective perspective

“…In this regard, training and support programs for fertility clinical staff are advocated in order to reduce stress, prevent burnout and also improve the ability to care for patients ( Gameiro, Boivin, & Domar, 2013 ; Grill, 2015 ; Norré & Wischmann, 2011 ; Patel, Sharma, & Kumar, 2018 ). As well, the need for providing staff training in communication-skills, shared decision-making, empathy, breaking bad news has raised in recent times, as well as the relevance of mental health practitioners in infertility clinics ( Gameiro, Boivin, & Domar, 2013 ; Grill, 2015 ; Patel, Sharma, & Kumar, 2018 ).…”

“…In this regard, training and support programs for fertility clinical staff are advocated in order to reduce stress, prevent burnout and also improve the ability to care for patients ( Gameiro, Boivin, & Domar, 2013 ; Grill, 2015 ; Norré & Wischmann, 2011 ; Patel, Sharma, & Kumar, 2018 ). As well, the need for providing staff training in communication-skills, shared decision-making, empathy, breaking bad news has raised in recent times, as well as the relevance of mental health practitioners in infertility clinics ( Gameiro, Boivin, & Domar, 2013 ; Grill, 2015 ; Patel, Sharma, & Kumar, 2018 ). This may be particularly relevant in the Italian context, where the fertility staff’ experience is made more complex by ethical-religious issues and restrictive legislation, and third-party reproductive techniques, characterized by higher chance of success, have been allowed as a treatment option only in recent times.…”

“The worst time of my life”: Treatment‐related stress and unmet needs of women living with infertility

“…Other options to meet psychological needs could include peer support groups (Read et al, 2014;Rooney & Domar, 2018). Although guidelines suggest that psychological counseling during infertility, in-clinic psychosocial support services are rarely offered during IVF treatment (Gameiro et al, 2016;Patel et al, 2018). Some of our participants expressed professional counseling should be a standard component of treatment; we suggest a practice implication for infertility providers wishing to provide truly patient-centered care and increase patient satisfaction may be to consider ways in which they can effectively facilitate women's access to such services in-clinic.…”