An Integrative Review of Psychosocial Intervention Programs for Infertile Females

Abstract

Background: This study aims to analyze intervention studies conducted on infertile females in South Korea and research and research the core elements comprising these studies.Methods: The integrative review was conducted based on the guidelines of Whittmore and Knafl, and included the following steps: problem identification, literature search, data evaluation, data analysis, and presentation. Next, six domestic databases were searched using keywords such as ‘infertility’, ‘intervention’, and ‘education’ in Korean and English, and published studies were reviewed according to specific criteria and quality assessment.Results: Among 4,109 searched papers, 6 were selected for the final data analysis. A total of six interventions were conducted in the selected articles, and each strategy was variously categorized into cognitive, emotional, behavioral, relational, and physical aspects. All interventions were found to be effective in promoting psychosocial health in infertile females.Conclusions: Despite the fact that female infertility is a major public health problem in Korea, the low number of articles reveals a relative lack of psychosocial intervention studies. Therefore, it is suggested that future studies incorporate physiological endpoints into psychosocial studies, and we hope that this study will serve as a basis for developing programs for infertile females in the future.