Infertility Research

One in six Canadian women will struggle with infertility during their reproductive lives – half of these women will report that infertility is the most upsetting experience of their lives and 30-40% will develop clinical depression or anxiety as a result. Furthermore, the few treatments that are available have been shown to be largely ineffective in reducing infertility distress, depressive symptoms, and marital functioning. There is therefore a need for a new treatment that better addresses the unique challenges that women face when struggling with infertility.

Our research, funded by the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation and Saskatchewan Center for Patient-Oriented Research, is aimed at identifying the unique psychological challenges that individuals face as they struggle to conceive with the ultimate goal of developing a tailored psychological intervention that is more effective at reducing infertility-related distress than what is currently available.