Helping motivation and well-being of chronic pain couples: a daily diary study

Abstract

Receiving support from a romantic partner may yield benefits for individuals with chronic pain (ICPs), but may also carry unintended side effects. The conditions under which partner support provision yields (mal)adaptive effects deserve greater attention. Grounded in Self-determination theory, partners may provide help for autonomous or volitional (eg, enjoyment, full commitment) or rather controlled or pressured (eg, avoiding guilt and criticism) motives. This study examined associations between day-to-day fluctuations in partners' type of helping motivation and several outcomes, among partners and ICPs. Seventy couples, with 1 partner having chronic pain (75.7% female), completed a diary for 14 consecutive days. Daily helping motivation was assessed together with daily affect, relational conflict, and relationship-based need satisfaction. Partners (Mage = 55.14) additionally reported on daily helping exhaustion, whereas ICPs (Mage = 54.71) reported on daily pain intensity, disability, satisfaction with received help, and amount of received help. Providing autonomous help related to improvements in partners' affective (eg, positive affect), relational (eg, conflict), and help-specific (eg, exhaustion) functioning, which were accounted for by improvements in daily relationship-based psychological need satisfaction. Similarly, daily autonomously motivated help yielded a direct (ie, relational conflict; perceived amount of help) or indirect (ie, positive and negative affects; relational conflict; satisfaction with help, disability) contribution in explaining ICP outcomes-through improvements in ICPs' relationship-based psychological need satisfaction. Findings highlight the importance of a motivational and dynamic perspective on help provision within chronic pain couples. Considering reasons why a partner provides help is important to understand when partners and ICPs may benefit from daily support.

Towards a science and practice of resilience in the face of pain

“…providing help out of enjoyment) than for controlled or pressured motives (e.g. providing help to avoid guilt or criticism) (Kindt et al, 2015(Kindt et al, , 2016.…”

“…Recently, the role of partners in promoting positive functioning in individuals with chronic pain has received research attention (e.g. Taylor et al, 2013;Kindt et al, 2015Kindt et al, , 2016. Other studies have looked at psychological flexibility in parents (McCracken and Gauntlett-Gilbert, 2011;Wallace et al, 2015) and teacher support (Vervoort et al, 2014) as a buffer against negative outcomes in children with pain.…”

The Effects of Partners’ Helping Motivation on Chronic Pain Patients’ Functioning Over Time

“…Longitudinal Study" (HMDAL-Study), among ICPs and their partner, which comprises, apart from the longitudinal study that is reported herein, also diary assessments (see 14,17 ). Participants who gave their agreement to be informed about studies performed at our lab were contacted by telephone (1) to receive more information about the present study and (2) to assess inclusion criteria.…”

“…Participants were couples, recruited through the Flemish Pain League (FPL), an umbrella organization for ICPs, and the Flemish League for Fibromyalgia Patients (FLFP), 6 which is an organization specifically oriented to individuals with fibromyalgia. Of all invited couples 79.21% agreed to take part (for more recruitment details see 14,17 ), that is, 141 couples participated in the longitudinal study, with 97 couples being members of the FPL and 44 being members of the FLFP. Inclusion criteria for participation of individuals with chronic pain (ICPs) in the present study were (1) having chronic pain for at least 3 months, (2) physically living together with a partner for at least one year, and (3) being sufficiently proficient in Dutch.…”

“…Specifically, a diary study charting the variability in helping motivation and adjustment on a daily basis indicated that on days that partners reported providing help for autonomous reasons, ICPs experienced less relational conflict as well as having received more help, an effect that could be accounted for by improvements in ICP's need-based functioning. In addition, daily autonomous helping motivation contributed indirectly, that is, through improvements in need-based functioning, to ICPs' positive and negative affect, their satisfaction with the received help, and perceived disability 17 .…”