The Effectiveness of Adlerian Group Counseling on the Existential Anxiety and Self-compassion in Infertile Women

Infertility is a major negative life event that leads to mental problems and emotional stressful experiences. The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of Adlerian group counseling on the existential anxiety and self-compassion in infertile women.

The research method was quasi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The study population included all infertile women referred to Kangavar City Infertility Clinic in 2020. The sample size included 34 of them selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned in two experimental (17 women) and control (17 women) groups. For the experimental group, the Adlerian group counseling therapy was delivered in 11 sessions of 90 minutes each over four weeks, while the control group received no training. Data collection tools included the Good's (1974) existential anxiety and Neff's (2003) self-compassion questionnaires. Both groups completed the mentioned questionnaires, once before the intervention (one day before the training start) and once after the intervention (one day after the training sessions completion). For the statistical analysis of the obtained data, the multivariate analysis of covariance in SPSS-24 was used.

The results showed that the Adlerian group counseling therapy had a significant impact on aimlessness of works (F = 39.76 and p<0.001), lack of value for meaning in life (F = 31.22 and p<0.001), lack of interest in performing tasks (F=29.05 and p<0.001), inability to convince others (F=35.43 and p<0.001) and lack of feeling responsible towards others (F=42.56 and p<0.001) and self-compassion (F=45.33 and p<0.001).

The results showed that the Adlerian group counseling therapy has significantly improved self-compassion and reduced existential anxiety in infertile women. Therefore, the use of this intervention is recommended for infertile women.