Learning Objective #1: Realize that provision of long-term counseling for women experiencing long-term IVF-therapy failure is important

Learning Objective #2: Realize that women still experienced a higher level of anxiety based upon the extended IVF failure one year

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Objective: To evaluate the relationship between anxiety and hope status amongst women who experienced in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment failure. Design: Cross-sectional survey design. Setting: One medical center in Taiwan, at which about 400 IVF cycles are performed annually. Patients: Eighty women who had experienced IVF failure were recruited one year subsequent to IVF-treatment failure. These women were classified into one of three groups of hope status: accomplishment (n=22; pregnancy/delivery), continuity (n=34; continuing treatment) and surrender (n=24; discontinuing treatment). Main outcome measure: Demographic characteristics and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Results: There were significant differences in age and frequency of receiving treatment amongst these three groups (P=0.006, 0.011; respectively). The mean (SD) score of the state-anxiety (A-State) inventory was 43.2 (9.1) and that of the trait-anxiety (A-Trait) inventory was 42.5 (8.1). Significant difference was noted between the mean scores for A-State and A-Trait categories for the three test groups (p=0.001, 0.015, respectively), however, the continuity group revealed that the level of difference between A-State and A-Trait categories was more substantial than was the case for the other two groups. Conclusion: Women from the continuity-hope status group felt more anxious about the extent of IVF failure than did women from other test groups. The provision of informed consent by IVF patients, and their long-term counseling as regards IVF-treatment failure is important.