Alexithymia, infertility‐related stress and quality of life in women undergoing an Assisted Reproductive Treatment

The investigation of the association between alexithymia and quality of life in infertility is a relatively neglected area of research. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between alexithymia and infertility‐related quality of life in women during Assisted Reproductive Treatment. Data were collected in a clinic in Rome, 93 infertile women completed the 20‐item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS‐20), the Fertility Quality of Life (FertiQoL) questionnaire and a socio‐demographic questionnaire. TAS‐20 total and two factors – Difficulty in Identifying Feelings (DIF) and Difficulty in Describing Feelings (DDF) – showed significant negative correlations with the overall questionnaire and with both Core and Treatment modules of FertiQoL. The regression model explained the 43% variance in FertiQol overall scores (R2=0.43; adjusted R2=.38); a significant effect was reported for the number of previous attempts (beta=0.20; p<.04), TAS‐20 DIF (beta=‐0.47; p<.001) and TAS‐20 Externally Orientated Thinking (EOT) (beta=0.20; p<.04); after applying Benjamini‐Hochberg correction procedure only TAS‐20 DIF maintained its significance. Alexithymia is associated with a worsened quality of life in infertile women; specifically, low difficulties in identifying feelings were associated to higher quality of life. Further investigations are needed also to develop specific therapeutic interventions aimed to promote emotional abilities in infertile people.