REVIEW Psychosocial interventions for infertile couples: a critical review Ka-Ming Chow, Mei-Chun Cheung and Irene KM Cheung Aims and objectives. This critical review aims to identify, summarize and criti- cally appraise the current literature evaluating the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions to improve infertile couples’ well-being. It also aims to identify the design implications of effective psychosocial interventions for the management of psychosocial distress in infertile couples, especially culturally specific interventions for Chinese infertile couples. Directions for future research are discussed. Background. Infertility is a life crisis affecting 15% of couples in most countries. The affected couples experience considerable psychological distress and impaired interpersonal relationships. Assisted reproductive technologies offer couples hope for pregnancy, but pose an unbearable psychological burden. Psychosocial inter- ventions have been developed to offer support; however, their effectiveness has been inconsistent. Design. A thorough analysis of the literatures on the topic of psychosocial inter- ventions for infertile couples. Methods. A systematic search of MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, British Nursing Index and GoogleScholar from 2003–2015 was conducted to identify English lan- guage articles with the keywords ‘psychosocial intervention’ and ‘infertility’. Two authors assessed all of the identified articles independently for inclusion in the review. Results. Twelve studies were included in the review: seven were interventional studies and five were review studies. The findings indicated that the psychosocial interventions in general improved psychological outcomes, marital relationships and pregnancy rates among infertile couples. Conclusions. Psychosocial interventions should be incorporated into routine prac- tice for infertile couples to provide timely support and counselling. Relevance to clinical practice. The implications of the review findings for the effective design of psychosocial interventions, including the content, format, dura- tion and intervener for clinical practice are discussed. In confirming the efficacy of such intervention design, randomized controlled trials are needed to compare the interventions and usual care at clinical setting. Longitudinal design is also needed to examine the long-term effects of psychosocial interventions in infertile couples’ well-being. What does this paper contribute to the wider global clinical community? • Identifies, summarizes and criti- cally appraises the current litera- ture evaluating the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in improving infertile couples’ well- being. • Identifies the best practices of psychosocial intervention for the management of psychosocial dis- tress in infertile couples. • Highlights the need for develop- ing a standardized effective design of psychosocial interven- tions for clinical use to improve psychological outcomes and mar- ital relationship in infertile cou- ples. Authors: Ka-Ming Chow, DN, Registered Nurse, Registered Mid- wife, Assistant Professor, The Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong S.A.R.; Mei-Chun Cheung, MBA, Registered Nurse, Regis- tered Midwife, Advanced Practice Nurse, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, New Territo- ries, Hong Kong S.A.R.; Irene KM Cheung, MSS, Registered Social Worker, Accredited Family Mediator, Centre on Behavioral Health, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong S.A.R., China. Correspondence: Ka-Ming Chow, Assistant Professor, The Nether- sole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Rm 829, Esther Lee Building, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong S.A.R., China. Telephone: +852 3943 4431. E-mail: kmchow@cuhk.edu.hk © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Journal of Clinical Nursing, doi: 10.1111/jocn.13361 1