The Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy on Dysfunctional Attitudes and Irrational Beliefs in Infertile Women

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on dysfunctional attitudes and irrational beliefs in infertile women. The research method was semi-experimental with pretest-posttest design and control group. The statistical population of the study consisted of all women referred to the fertility and Infertility Center of District 3 of Tehran during the first six months of 2018. 30 infertile women who scored higher than average in dysfunctional attitudes and irrational beliefs tests, were selected as a sample group and randomly assigned to two experimental groups (15cases) and control (15 cases). Cognitive-behavioral therapy was performed on individuals in the experimental group for nine sessions of 90 minutes (per biennial weekly) individually; the control group was placed on the waiting list for two months.  Weisman and Beck’s ineffective attitudes questionnaire and wrong ideas questionnaire of Jones were used to collect information in two stages of pre-test and post-test. Multivariate covariance analysis was used to analyze the research data. The results showed that with the control of the effect of pre-test, there is a significant difference between the mean post-test scores of dysfunctional attitudes and irrational beliefs. Based on the findings of this study, it is suggested that this type of treatment use as a psychological therapy for psychological empowerment and reduction of dysfunctional attitudes and correction of irrational beliefs in infertile women in and infertility treatment centers and clinics.