effectiveness of a spousal support program in improving the quality of life of male patients undergoing infertility treatment: a pilot study

Background: there are various causes of male infertility. infertile men usually have a low quality of life (qol) and a high level of stress compared with men without infertility problems. the present study aimed to examine the effects of a spousal support program to enhance the qol of male patients undergoing infertility treatment. methods: the present quasi-experimental study (pretest-posttest) was conducted among 38 infertile couples in tokyo (japan) during april-august 2018. the levels of qol, distress, and spousal support were measured using self-administered valid and reliable questionnaires. the paired t test was used to analyze pre- and post-intervention data with spss software (version 23.0). p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. results: there were significant differences between the pre-test and post-test scores for the relational and emotional sub-scales of qol. the paired t test results showed that the post-test emotional subscale (66.9±16.9) was significantly higher than the pre-test emotional sub-scale (58.5±13.5; t (30)=2.2, p=0.04). similarly, the post-test relational sub-scale (71.2±21.6) was significantly higher than its pre-test score (60.8±13.7; t (30)=2.3, p=0.03). the majority of the participants 23 (74.2%) expressed satisfaction with the program. conclusion: the spousal support program was well-received and significantly improved part of the qol of men who were infertile due to various causes.