Martini AE, et al. - A preliminary examination is carried out to figure out if an online yoga intervention is equally as useful as an in-person yoga session at decreasing stress levels in patients with a history of IVF failure. Preliminary examination shows a significant reduction in anxiety scores for both yoga interventions. There was no difference noted between the groups which further the idea that an online intervention could be of equal benefit to an in-person session. For this study enrollment is ongoing. Subsequent information investigation will function to strengthen the statistical effect of these outcomes, particularly in the online group. Overall, these outcomes demonstrate a promising benefit of implementing either an in-person or online yoga program for anxiety reduction in patients with prior failed IVF cycles.

Methods

• For this study, they designed a prospective cohort study.
• IRB approval was obtained.
• From a large infertility private practice, patients with at least one failed IVF cycle or a miscarriage after a successful cycle were selected.
• They collected demographic information.
• In this study, participants were allowed to self-enlist in either an in-person yoga intervention (90-minute fertility yoga class and discussion session once a week for six weeks) or an online yoga intervention (DVD instructed yoga class coupled with a 45-minute online webinar once a week for six weeks).
• Participation in five out of the six classes was required to be eligible for analysis.
• Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was completed immediately before and after the intervention and the mean scores were compared at each time point for both groups.
• Demographic data was compared utilizing paired T-tests.
• Anxiety index scores were examined with contingency tables and repeated measures examination of variance.

Results

• In this study, total 26 patients finished both pre and post intervention surveys (19 in-person participants, 7 online participants).
• Demographics were not significantly different between the two intervention groups.
• When comparing the two interventions, there was no significant difference in mean state or trait anxiety scores for either survey timepoint.
• There was a significant decrease in state and trait anxiety scores from pre-test to post-test for both of the interventions (State: Pre-test 47.00 ± 10.61, Post-test 35.81 ± 11.48 F=27.13, df=[1,24], p<0.001; Trait: Pre-test 44.31 ± 11.89, Post-test 37.23 ± 10.05 F=5.76, df=[1,24], p=0.025).