Online TeleHealth of Mind-body Interventions Versus Face-to-Face Counseling and the Health-related Quality of Life in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Randomized Clinical Trial

 Limited studies have been conducted on the effectiveness, applicability, and satisfaction of mind-body interventions as short-term methods that affect body conditions like Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). Therefore, this study aimed to compare the efficacy of online mind-body interventions versus face-to-face counseling on the quality of life (QOL) of women with PCOS.

 This parallel randomized clinical trial was implemented in Yazd in 2020.  Sixty eligible women with PCOS were randomly allocated to the online group (n=30) and face-to-face counseling (n=30) groups. Eight 120-minute sessions of mind-body interventions were held for both groups, either as online or face-to face. Data was collected using the PCOS Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) questionnaire (at baseline, week 8 and 12), counseling satisfaction scale (at week 8 and 12), and FBS (at baseline and week 8) in both groups. Data were analyzed by SPSS (version22) using T-test, and repeated measures ANOVA.

  HRQOL was 94.87±11.75 in online and 90.50±9.76 in face-to-face group at baseline, which increased significantly to 108.53±4.5 in the online and face-to-face groups at week 12, with a greater increase in the online group (P<0.001). Satisfaction with counseling increased at week 12 compared to week 8 in both groups, which was not significantly different (P=0.31). FBS decreased at week 8 compared to baseline in both groups without a significant difference (P=0.26).

 The greater effectiveness of online mind-body interventions on HRQOL in women with PCOS highlights their potential value as telehealth interventions.