History

Background: infertile women often experience many social and psychological challenges, including mental distresses and social discrimination. Some of the mostly reported psychological manifestation include depression and anxiety. To address the challenges, medical technological advances have recently advanced, and some technologies, such as the in-vitro fertilization were developed to help infertile women to babies from their own ovaries. However, little evidence has reported the current level of anxiety and depression among women attending in-vitro fertilization treatment. Purpose: to assess and compare the level of depression and anxiety among infertile women undergoing in-vitro fertilization and the naturally pregnant women at north of Jordan. Methods: descriptive cross-sectional research was conducted, data was collected using a research questionnaire from a total of 251 pregnant women in Jordan. The analysis was then performed using the descriptive statistics and Chi-square test of SPSS, version 26. Results: the study found out that 60.3% (n=91) and 24.9% (n=81) of the women undergoing in-vitro fertilization had anxiety and depression, respectively. Comparatively, 36% (n=36) and 31.1% (n=47) of the women with natural pregnancy had anxiety and depression, respectively. Overall, there was a statistically significant higher number of women experiencing anxiety than those with natural pregnancy (p=. 001). However, there was no statistically significant difference in cases of depression among women undergoing in-vitro fertilization and those with natural fertilization (p=.557). Conclusion: overall, mental distresses are more prevalent among women undergoing in-vitro fertilization than those of natural fertilization, and hence the need for more psychosocial support among women undergoing in-vitro fertilization.