A Review and Investigation of Family Factors in the Treatment of Chronic Pain Patients

Chronic pain is a syndrome which forces many changes upon the patient and upon the family system. To examine the relationship between patients' and their spouses' psychosocial functioning, questionnaire data were collected from 28 male and 18 female patients referred for evaluation to an o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author Bailis, Karen L
Format Report
LanguageEnglish
Published 01.08.1984
Subjects
Depression (Psychology)
Interpersonal Communication
Marital Satisfaction
Pain
Patients
Psychological Characteristics
Spouses
Online AccessGet more information

Cover

More Information
Summary:Chronic pain is a syndrome which forces many changes upon the patient and upon the family system. To examine the relationship between patients' and their spouses' psychosocial functioning, questionnaire data were collected from 28 male and 18 female patients referred for evaluation to an outpatient pain management program. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was administered to assess psychological functioning; the Sickness Impact Profile was employed to measure patients' perceived changes in physical, social, vocational, and avocational activities as a result of the pain; and the Primary Communication Inventory (Navran, 1967) was used to assess patients' and spouses' perception of marital communication effectiveness. Results indicated that level of depression may be related to the level of marital communication difficulties reported by the spouse, except for husbands of chronic pain patients who reported better communication with their more depressed wives. Elevation on the depression scale appeared to be associated with greater reports of detrimental psychosocial changes on the Sickness Impact Profile. Psychological impairment was associated with poor communication reported by male patients and their wives; however, husbands of patients reported greater satisfaction with marital communications as their mates reported greater levels of psychosocial impairment. Although there is considerable variation in spouse and chronic pain patients' psychosocial functioning, there are indications that spouses' characteristics and responses to their mates' pain problem have an effect on pain behavior. (LLL)