Table 1.

Check List of criteria for assessing the quality of studies on marital relationship in the infertile

A. a psychometrical questionnaire is applied

B. a chief objective of the study is to investigate the marital relationship

C. standardized or valid self-report measurements are utilized to assess the marital relationship in the infertile and/or their spouse/partners.

Study participants

D. a description consists of at least two socio-demographic variables (e.g., age, sex, economical status educational status, etc).

E. a description presents 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 contributing factors using correlation analyses, multivariate analyses, or structural equation models)

H. rates of participation for the infertile groups and/or their spouses/partners are described (defined as the percentage of eligible patients giving their informed consent) and these rates exceed 70%

I. information is provided 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 are prospectively gathered and cross-section.

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., healthy 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)

Ref. (Tao, Coates, & Maycock, 2011).