Efficacy evaluation of an affectionate touch-based psychological intervention program for in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer patients: A controlled trial
Wen-Feng Zeng, Qing Zhang, Xiao-Ran Wang, Zhang-Yang Xu, Chen-Wei Huang, Qin-Qin Zhang, Hong-Li Yan, Yun-Xia Wang
Wen-Feng Zeng, Xiao-Ran Wang, Zhang-Yang Xu, Chen-Wei Huang, Yun-Xia Wang, Department of Nautical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China
Qing Zhang, Qin-Qin Zhang, Hong-Li Yan, Reproductive Medicine Center, Changhai Hospital, Shanghai 200433, China
Co-first authors: Wen-Feng Zeng and Qing Zhang.
Co-corresponding authors: Hong-Li Yan and Yun-Xia Wang.
Author contributions: Zeng WF contributed to software, validation, and visualization; Zeng WF and Wang XR contributed to formal analysis, and writing - original draft; Zeng WF, Zhang Q, Wang XR, Xu ZY, and Huang CW contributed to investigation; Zeng WF, Wang XR, and Xu ZY contributed to data curation; Zeng WF, Wang XR, Yan HL, and Wang YX contributed to conceptualization; Zhang Q, Xu ZY, Huang CW, Zhang QQ, Yan HL, and Wang YX contributed to resources; Zhang Q, Zhang QQ, Yan HL, and Wang YX contributed to writing - review and editing; Zhang Q, Yan HL, and Wang YX contributed to supervision; Wang XR contributed to methodology; Wang XR and Wang YX contributed to project administration; Wang YX contributed to funding acquisition; Zeng WF and Zhang Q contributed equally to this manuscript and are co-first authors; Yan HL and Wang YX contributed equally to this manuscript and are co-corresponding authors. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shanghai Changhai Hospital (Approval No. 2023-S-006).
Clinical trial registration statement: The research approach aligns with similar non-interventional studies in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer literature that have not required registration while maintaining scientific validity and ethical standards. All procedures were conducted in accordance with the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and received appropriate institutional review board approval.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was obtained from all participants.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 Statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 Statement.
Data sharing statement: No additional data needs to be shared.
Corresponding author: Yun-Xia Wang, Department of Nautical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Naval Medical University, No. 800 Xiangyin Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai 200433, China.
cloudywang66@163.com
Received: October 17, 2025
Revised: December 7, 2025
Accepted: January 15, 2026
Published online: April 19, 2026
Processing time: 165 Days and 15.7 Hours
