Table 1.

List of criteria for assessing the quality of studies on marital relationship in the infertile and/or their spouse/partners

Positive if
Marital relationship assessment
A. a psychometrical questionnaire is used
B. a primary objective of the study is to examine the marital relationship
C. standardized or valid self-report measurements are used to assess the marital relationship in the infertile and/or their spouse/partners
Study participants
D. a description is included of at least two socio-demographic variables (e.g., age, sex, economical status, educational status, etc.)
E. a description is present of at least two clinical variables (e.g., type of infertility, duration of infertility, treatment method(s), etc.)
F. inclusion and/or exclusion criteria are provided
G. the study describes predictors or influencing factors by using correlation analysis, multivariate analyses or structural equation models
H. participation rates for the infertile groups and/or their spouses/partners are described (defined as the percentage of eligible patients who gave their informed consent) and these rates exceed 70%
I. information is given about the ratio between non-responders versus responders
Study design
J. the study size is consisting of at least 50 patients
K. the collection of data is prospectively gathered
L. the design is longitudinal (more than 1 year)
M. the process of data collection is described (e.g., interview or self-report, etc.)
N. the follow-up period is at least 6 months
O. the loss to follow-up is described and is less than < 20%
Results
P. the results are compared between two groups or more (e.g., healthly population, groups with different treatment stages, different types of infertility, or treatment types) and/or results are compared with at least two points in time (e.g., pre- versus post-treatment)

*The criteria checklist was based on an established criteria for systematic review reported in the literature (15–20)