Perceived spouse responsiveness to chronic pain: three empirical subgroups

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Pain Management
• Sociology

Background:

• Spousal support is crucial for chronic pain patients' well-being.
• Variability in patient pain behavior may stem from differing spouse responses.
• No prior studies have identified distinct patterns of perceived spouse responsiveness to chronic pain.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify subgroups of spouse responsiveness to chronic pain behavior using cluster analysis.
• To examine differences in pain-related variables among these identified subgroups.
• To explore the clinical and conceptual validity of these spouse response patterns.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory hierarchical cluster analysis of data from 774 married chronic pain patients.
• Utilized Section 2 of the Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI).
• Discriminant analysis was employed to assess subgroup classification accuracy and identify differentiating variables.

Main Results:

• Three distinct spouse response subgroups were identified: positively attentive, negatively attentive, and inattentive.
• Discriminant analysis correctly classified 71.1% of subgroup membership.
• Spousal support and pain interference were key variables differentiating the subgroups, with negatively and positively attentive groups showing poorer adjustment.

Conclusions:

• Identified spouse response patterns possess conceptual and clinical validity.
• The negatively and positively attentive spouse response profiles are associated with poorer patient adjustment to chronic pain.
• Further controlled studies are necessary to establish the causal relationship between spouse responsiveness and patient outcomes.