Chronic Headache Patients′ Marital and Family Adjustment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the marital and family adjustment of headache patients and their spouses, before pain control treatment, to couples without chronic pain. Minuchin's (1978) family systems theory of psychosomatic illness was tested, using an adult sample. This sample consisted of 117 headache-patient-and-spouse couples and a control group of 108 married couples without chronic pain. A survey design was used with marital and family assessment instruments. Marital and family questionnaires were given to headache patients and their spouses before beginning treatment and were sent to couples without chronic pain. "Headache couples" reported greater differences in consensus, cohesion, affection, and sexual relationships than did control couples. Headache patients reporting greater marital adjustment were more likely to have continuous pain than those reporting less marital adjustment. Headache patients' pain per day correlated positively with greater family cohesion and adaptability. Headache patients' severity of pain correlated positively with greater marital affection. The spouses' marital cohesion, affection, and family cohesion and adaptability correlated positively with increased severity of patients' pain.

Chronic Pain and Family

“…Another study using FACES III to investigate family functioning in a group of headache patients reported very different findings from the previous study (Basolo-Kunzer et al, 1991). The authors compared family functioning of 117 headache patients with a control group of 118 normal couples without pain.…”

“…On the expressiveness subscale of FES, the chronic pain group was significantly more compromised than the normal controls in expressing emotions. To complicate the picture even further, two studies that compared the family functioning of chronic pain patients with normal controls failed to find any significant differences between the two groups (Basolo-Kunzer et al, 1991;Nicassio and Radojevic, 1993).…”

Social Relations and Chronic Pain

“…The chronic pain and family literature provides evidence that supports this perspective (Basolo- Kunzer et al, 1991;Nicassio and Radojevic, 1993). The chronic pain and family literature provides evidence that supports this perspective (Basolo- Kunzer et al, 1991;Nicassio and Radojevic, 1993).…”

“…We now examine in some depth two studies that failed to show any family dysfunction in chronic pain families (Basolo- Kunzer et al, 1991;Nicassio and Radojvic, 1993). Basolo-Kunzer and associates compared family functioning in a group of 117 headache patients and their spouses with a control group of 108 married couples without pain.…”

Psychosocial Adjustment of Spousal Caregivers of Patients With Chronic Pain

“…There is some evidence that suggests that SCCPP experience increased psychological distress, relationship dissatisfaction, financial problems, role changes, and sexual dysfunction (Kerns & Turk, 1984;Leonard & Cano, 2006;Rosenbaum, 2009). However, other research has shown that SCCPP do not necessarily experience distress or negative effects as a result of caregiving (Basolo-Kunzer, Diamond, & Reed, 1991;Feinauer & Steele, 1992;Flor, Breitenstein, & Birbaumer, 1995;Liew et al, 2010). Literature in the areas of positive psychology, resiliency, adjustment, and psychological interventions provide plausible explanations to the varying adjustment ability of caregivers, including stress appraisal, coping resources, personal attributes, and dispositional tendencies (e.g., internal locus of control, optimism, self-efficacy; Carver, Scheier, & Segerstrom, 2010;Horton & Wallander, 2001;Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).…”