The Relationship Between Type D Personality, Medical Adherence, and Infertility Treatment Outcome

Background: Infertility as a chronic condition could be a crisis. Experiencing infertility and assisted reproductive techniques (ARTs) would be hard for patients. Based on the literature review, women perceive ARTs as more stressful than men. Type D personality has been studied in patients with chronic heart problems, showing that it makes patients vulnerable to more stress and psychological consequences. This can significantly impact the outcomes of their treatments. As infertility could be seen as a chronic condition and ARTs just help patients to have children in most cases, it raises the question of whether type D personality has the same side effects on infertile women undergoing ARTs. Objectives: The present study investigated the relationship between type D personality, medical adherence, and treatment outcomes in infertile women. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 502 infertile women at Royan Institute. All participants were in the final stages of in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), or intrauterine insemination (IUI) and were surveyed from February to May 2017. Type D Scale-14 (DS14) and Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8 (MMAS-8) were used to measure type D personality and medical adherence. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS statistics 22 developed in the USA, and statistical tests such as one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), chi-square, and Fisher exact tests. Results: Infertile women with low medical adherence reported significantly higher levels of type D personality than those with moderate medical adherence (F = 76.49; P < 0.001). The frequency of infertile women with type D personality who reported low medical adherence (51.8%) was significantly higher than those without type D personality (23.1%). No significant relationship was observed between type D personality/medical adherence and treatment outcome. Conclusions: Although type D personality is associated with the patient’s desire to have low medical adherence, other factors can prevent the effect of low medical adherence on the treatment outcome. However, further research is necessary to fully understand and explore these factors.