Psychodrama and the Emotional State of Women Dealing with Infertility

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effects of psychodrama on feelings of depression, anxiety, and hopelessness, as well as the level of self-esteem in female patients with infertility. The study sample consisted of 30 female patients with infertility, who applied to the In Vitro Fertilisation Unit of a university hospital in Ankara. Initially, Beck’s Depression Inventory, Beck’s Anxiety Inventory, Beck’s Hopelessness Scale, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were administered to recruited patients twice, before and after the start of the psychodrama practice. 8 weeks of psychodrama were practised with the sample group for 3 h per week. In each group session, the aim was for women to acknowledge their emotions and share their challenges during the infertility treatment process through psychodrama games. The IBM SPSS Statistics 21.0 program (Istanbul, Turkey), Shapiro–Wilk test, Mann–Whitney U test, and Wilcoxon test were used for statistical analysis and calculation. The results showed significant differences between participants’ pre and post-test scores on Beck’s Depression, Beck’s Anxiety, Beck’s Hopelessness, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. However, there was no significant difference between participants’ pre and post-test scores on Beck’s Anxiety Inventory; post-test scores were lower than pre-test scores. It was shown that group therapy for female patients with infertility. This result shows that psychodrama may enhance self-esteem, despair, anxiety and depression.