Objective: To evaluate the antenatal feelings of women who conceived by IVF, with a focus on their moods regarding self, baby, and spouse.
Design: Controlled, prospective study.
Setting: Outpatient clinics.
Patient(s): Thirty women who conceived by IVF and 30 demographically matched women who conceived naturally.
Intervention(s): Validated interview and standardized questionnaires.
Main outcome measure(s): Emotionality; positive affect; negative affect; moods regarding self, spouse, and baby; and global anxiety and depression.
Result(s): Compared with controls, the IVF group scored lower on negative affect and higher on measures of (positive) mood regarding self, baby, and spouse. No differences between groups were found on measures of positive affect, depression, or anxiety. Women who had undergone two to three IVF cycles had lower negative affect scores than women who had conceived after the first treatment cycle, and mood regarding spouse depended on whether or not he had been the sole source of the couple's infertility.
Conclusion(s): Women who conceived by IVF experienced more positive moods during pregnancy than did the controls, and lingering effects of the women's history of infertility were still in evidence.