Title: The effect of mindfulness-based nursing support on the psychosocial status of women
receiving infertility treatment: a randomized controlled trial
Version: 7 Date: 18 Oct 2024
Reviewer's report:
Thank you for the great deal of work you have put in to revise this manuscript and address all
my prior comments. I have a few minor comments
1. Authors added a reference to the third paragraph, first sentence to help substantiate the claim
that women with infertility experience more mental health issues than men, but the references
added still do not support the claim. This should be a primary study that shows the difference in
rates of anxiety/depression/stress/quality of life like the reference I have included below, rather
than a review.
a. Khalesi, Z. B., & Kenarsari, F. J. (2024). Anxiety, depression, and stress: a comparative study
between couples with male and female infertility. BMC women's health, 24(1), 228. https://
doi.org/10.1186/s12905-024-03072-5
2. Authors indicated that the subsection title on page 6 was correctly stated as “consent to
participate.” However, the revised manuscript still states “Ethical approval and constant to
participate” in the revised manuscript. Please correct “Constant” to “Consent.”
3. Under “Randomization/group assignment”: The sections of “Interim Analyses and Stopping
Guidelines,” “Random Allocation Sequence,” “Type of Randomization and Restrictions,”
“Mechanism to Implement Random Allocation Sequence,” “Roles in Randomization,” and
“Similarity of Interventions” can be either deleted or integrated into the prior paragraph. A lot
of this is redundant information.
a. For example: “Simple randomization was performed for a total of 40 people (accounting for
participant attrition) using random number sequences generated on www.random.org without
blocking or restriction. Blinding was not applicable for participants or care providers due to the
nature of the intervention. Researchers enrolled participants who met the inclusion criteria and
assigned them to the experimental group with mindfulness training or the control group with no
intervention according to this number sequence in the order of participation in the study. When
cases withdrew from the study, new cases were assigned to the corresponding number of people.
Our study was conducted with 34 participants, including 17 in the experimental group and 17
in the control group. All participants completed pre-tests and post-tests. The hypothesis of the
study was that mindfulness meditation through a mobile application would improve levels of
mindfulness and reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress among women undergoing
IVF treatment, compared to those who did not receive the mindfulness intervention.”
4. Thank you for restructuring the Methods section. I think this created a much clearer picture
of the intervention and control methods. There are still some minor redundancies that could be
cleaned up in pages 14 and 15, particularly when discussing practicing the mindfulness daily. I
suggest reading through this section once more to make it a little more concise.
5. I would also suggest placing the statement about privacy immediately following the
description of the online meeting. For example: “Training for the experimental group was
conducted online via Zoom with slide presentations. Five separate training sessions were held
with groups of four to five women, each session lasting two hours. Participant privacy and
anonymity were maintained during Zoom meetings. The consent form indicated that video
recordings would be taken. Additionally, prior to the Zoom meetings, participants were informed
that they were not required to share their screens and could use pseudonyms to maintain their
privacy.”