Partners in Pain: investigating the relationship between illness perceptions, psychosocial adjustment and coping in chronic pain partners

Waltier, Helen (2002). Partners in Pain: investigating the relationship between illness perceptions, psychosocial adjustment and coping in chronic pain partners. PhD thesis The Open University.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.ro.0000e7df

Abstract

Objectives: To (i) assess the psychosocial functioning and adjustment of partners to living with someone with chronic pain, and (ii) investigate the relationship between illness perceptions, psychosocial adjustment and coping in chropic pain partners.

Design: A cross-sectional survey and interview design.

Method: Thirty-five partners of chronic pain patients completed the revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R), the Psychological Adjustment to Illness Scale (PAIS-SR), the COPE, the physical functioning scale of the SF-36 and the somatic subscale of the GHQ-28. Ten partners also took part in semi-structured interviews. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to examine whether partners' illness representations explained more of the variance in their psychosocial adjustment and coping than demographic and disease variables. Interview data was analysed using grounded theory.

Results: Results indicated that living with someone with chronic pain impacted significantly on partners' emotional well-being, physical health, relationships, occupation and social activities. Partners' illness representations significantly predicted their psychosocial adjustment and coping behaviours. Partners interviewed gave detailed accounts of their experiences of living with someone with chronic pain, how it impacted on their lives and how they coped.

Conclusions: This study highlights the impact of chronic pain on partners, who are often much neglected by services. Despite study limitations, an exploration of the relationship between partners' illness perceptions, coping and psychosocial functioning suggests important new ways of working with chronic pain partners. Important clinical and theoretical implications are discussed. Further work is needed however to better understand the complexities underpinning illness representations and the impact of chronic pain on partners.