ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 1
Research Proposal Paper Annotated Bibliography
School of Behavioral Sciences, Liberty University
Author Note
References
Szkodziak, F., Krzyżanowski, J., & Szkodziak, P. (2020). Psychological aspects of infertility. A
systematic review. Journal of International Medical Research. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1177/0300060520932403
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The article presented by Szodziak, et al. evaluated 106 articles in order to determine the negative
impact of mental disorders, such as stress, depression, sleep disorders, eating disorders, and addictions on
female and male fertility. This research further explores the relationship between the duration of infertility
and the incidence of depressive symptoms and anxiety in women. The systematic review was completed
based on the analysis of available literature published through MEDLINE, Cochrane, and PubMed
databases which was independently reviewed by two reviews. The reporting instruments utilized included
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines.
Filip Szkodziak is a scholar and, 3rd Chair and Department of Gynecology at Medical University
of Lubin in Lublin, Poland. While this study conducts various associations on the relationship between
mental health and fertility, it is not entirely clear to what extent mental disorders affect fertility and to
what extended infertility affects, mental health. Thus, my research question aims to depict the ways in
which such mental illness relates to fertility.
Rooney, K. L., & Domar, A. D. (2018). The relationship between stress and infertility. Dialogues in
clinical neuroscience, 20(1), 41–47. https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2018.20.1/klrooney
This article presented by Rooney and Domar evaluates the relationship between stress and fertility. This
article reviews psychiatric disorders and their relationship with infertility treatments or potential impact of
those symptoms on reproductive treatment outcome. Additionally, this article suggests psychological
interventions for distress. The research demonstrates how stress could affect not only infertility but also
treatment outcomes for fertility and pregnancy. Thus, this article also focuses on psychological
interventions and how such could be decreased to increase pregnancy rates. The main author, Dr. Alice
Domar, PD. D. is the Executive Directo of the Domar Center for Mind/Body Health and the Director of
the Mind/Body Services at Boston IVF. She received her M.A. and PhD in Health Psychology from
Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Ferkauf School of Professional Psychology of Yeshiva. One of the
instruments utilized in this study was the Positive Reappraisal Coping Intervention which encourages
individuals to take account of positive aspects of stressful situations. This instrument has a validity of
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0.88-0.91 which would be consider a reliable or good instrument. Lastly this article suggests that there is
an unclear relationship between stress and infertility however it is clear that decreasing anxiety and
depression may lead to significantly higher pregnancy rates. Thus, my research questions explore how
mental illnesses directly affect fertility in women.
Lynch, C. D., Sundaram, R., Maisog, J. M., Sweeney, A. M., & Buck Louis, G. M. (2014). Preconception
stress increases the risk of infertility: results from a couple-based prospective cohort study--the
LIFE study. Human reproduction (Oxford, England), 29(5), 1067–1075.
https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deu032
This article composed by Lynch, et al., utilized 501 couples in a prospective cohort study with
preconception enrollment at two research sites (Michigan and Texas, USA). Couples were followed for up
to 12 months as they tried to conceive and through pregnancy if it occurred. A total of 401 (80%) couples
completed the study protocol and 373 (93%) had complete data available for this analysis. The purpose of
this study was to determine if stress and as measure by salivary alpha-amylase is associated with a longer
time-to-pregnancy and an increased risk of infertility. One of the authors C.D. Lynch is the Director of
Research Education in the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Ohio State College of
Medicine. One of the instruments utilized was Salivette® collection device which demonstrated a value
of test re-test reliability of 0.93. Thus demonstrated its efficiency in collecting salivary alpha-amylase. Th
authors indicated that stress is a potential factor among couples who have failed to get pregnant despite 6
months of targeted intercourse. Additionally, is is stated that stress is not the most important or the only
factor when predicting fertility or one’s ability to get pregnant. Therefore, it would be further research the
effects of other mental illness on fertility.
Hope, H., Parisi, R., Ashcroft, D. M., Williams, R., Coton, S., Kosidou, K., Pierce, M., &; Abel, K. M.
(2020). Fertility trends of women with serious mental illness in the United Kingdom 1992–2017:
A primary care cohort study using the clinical practice research datalink. Journal of Affective
Disorders, 269, 141–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.03.037
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This article was composed by Hope, et al., who evaluated the trends of women with affective and
non-affective psychoses. This retrospective cohort study of women utilized data from the Clinical Practice
Research Datalink general practices. 12,524 women with a serious mental illness were matched to 50,074
women without a serious mental illness. The median ago of this study was between 28 to 39 years old.
This research illustrates those women with severe mental illness appear to be more likely to experience
pregnancy loos and reduced fertility than those without several mental illnesses. One of the authors of this
article, Holly Hope, is a psychiatric epidemiologist and behavioral scientist at the Centre for Women’s
Mental Health at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. One assessment utilized in this
study was the Poison regression models which demonstrated to have a reliability of r=0.76 which
indicates a strong positive linear relationship. Since traditionally women with severe mental illness do not
engage In pregnancy planning, additional data would focus on determining if the mental illness itself or
the antipsychotic medication associated with this illness are in fact the cause of infertility. Thus, my
research question would focus on examining if the mental illnesses do have an effect of fertility.
Montagnoli, C., Zanconato, G., Cinelli, G., Tozzi, A. E., Bovo, C., Bortolus, R., &; Ruggeri, S. (2020).
Maternal mental health and reproductive outcomes: a scoping review of the current literature.
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 302(4), 801–819. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-020-
05685-1
This study assesses the patterns of mental illness and the relationship to adverse reproductive
outcomes. Following the PRISMA guidelines a search in PubMed, CINAHL, Google Scholar and Web of
Science (WOS) databases was conducted from March to April 2019. Cross-referencing in bibliographies
of the appraised papers ensured wider study capture. This review determined that mental health
conditions should be considered and treated since such have a significant impact in obstetric outcomes for
both mothers and new-born. This research illustrates that frequent use of antidepressant drugs prior to
conception could hinder sexual disfunction at the time of conception or reduce interest deriving from sex.
One of the authors, Caterina Montagnoli, is currently a research scholar at the University Hospital of
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Verona for the project “Prevention and protection of health in the first 1000 days of life” in collaboration
with the Italian Ministry of Health. One of the assessments utilized on this research was Hamilton
Depression Rating which demonstrated a coefficient of r=0.71 indicating positively correlated result. The
authors of this research indicated that further forms of intervention should be research improve maternal
mental health and related reproductive outcomes. Thus, my research question is examining the
relationships between mental health and fertility which could provide further insight in order to develop
more effective forms of intervention.
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