Perceived Spouse Responses to Pain: The Level of Agreement in Couple Dyads and the Role of Catastrophizing, Marital Satisfaction, and Depression

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to examine whether individuals with chronic pain ("participants") and their spouses agree on perceptions of solicitous, distracting, and punishing spouse responses to pain. The second aim was to examine the role of participant catastrophizing (a negative mental set about pain), participant and spouse marital satisfaction, and participant and spouse depression in participant perceptions of spouse responses, spouse perceptions of their responses, and agreement between participants and spouses. Individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain and their spouses (N=108 couples) completed questionnaire packets. Examination of overall group averages (participants vs. spouses) indicated little or no differences between participant and spouse ratings. Examination of individual agreement in participant and spouse ratings indicated substantial disagreement. The proposed moderators predicted both participant and spouse perceptions and jointly made minor contributions to dyad agreement. Although neither participant nor spouse perceptions of spouse responses are necessarily a reflection of actual behavior, the lack of agreement in this study suggests it may not be valid to use only patient perceptions in research related to spouse responses.

Provoked Vestibulodynia: Mediators of the Associations Between Partner Responses, Pain, and Sexual Satisfaction

“…The current result that both participant-and partner-perceived catastrophizing acted as partial mediators was consistent with the limited data on dyadic agreement in chronic pain couples (Pence et al, 2006) and with a recent PVD study (Rosen et al, 2010). The fact that partner-perceived variables can influence women's pain has two implications: (1) it supports the integration of partner variables into biopsychosocial models of PVD and, (2) given that prior psychological treatment studies for PVD have not included the partners, these findings suggest that psychological couple interventions targeting the cognitive and behavioral processes of both women and their partners, need to be developed and empirically tested.…”

“…Further, investigating the comparative influence of participants' or partners' perception of variables in the same study may have implications for choosing appropriate measures in future research, as well as affect our confidence that the behavior is being accurately measured by asking only one of the two partners (Pence, Cano, Thorn, & Ward, 2006). The current result that both participant-and partner-perceived catastrophizing acted as partial mediators was consistent with the limited data on dyadic agreement in chronic pain couples (Pence et al, 2006) and with a recent PVD study (Rosen et al, 2010).…”

Impact of male partner responses on sexual function in women with vulvodynia and their partners: A dyadic daily experience study.

“…Further, as indicated by the moderate to low withinperson correlations, a lack of agreement in women and partners' reports of male partner responses highlights the fact that researchers must carefully consider the purpose of their 20 research questions and proposed findings when choosing the respondent. For example, interventions designed to modify partner responses should include both the patient's perception of responses as well as the partner's report of his or her own responses in order to ensure an accurate account of each person's perspective (Pence, Cano, Thorn, & Ward, 2006).…”

Individual and Relational Correlates of Pain-related Empathic Accuracy in Spouses of Chronic Pain Patients

“…Accurate perception of the person with chronic pain's level of pain might overwhelm or drain the support resources of the spouse, ultimately impacting negatively on the emotional wellbeing of the spouse and the person with pain. 34 The present study addressed (1) the correlates of pain-related empathic accuracy in spouses of people with chronic pain, (2) the relation between pain-related empathic accuracy and people with spouse adaptational outcomes, and (3) the relation between pain-related empathic accuracy and relational outcomes.…”