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. 2008 Jun 1;26(2):185-195.
doi: 10.1037/1091-7527.26.2.185.

Couple-Oriented Education and Support Intervention for Osteoarthritis: Effects on Spouses' Support and Responses to Patient Pain

Lynn M Martire  1 , Richard Schulz, Francis J Keefe, Thomas E Rudy, Terence W Starz
Affiliations

Couple-Oriented Education and Support Intervention for Osteoarthritis: Effects on Spouses' Support and Responses to Patient Pain

Lynn M Martire et al. Fam Syst Health. .

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a couple-oriented education and support intervention for osteoarthritis was more efficacious than a similar patient-oriented intervention in terms of enhancing spouses' support of patients and their positive and negative responses to patient pain. Repeated-measures analyses of covariance with the completers sample (N = 103 dyads) showed that at the postintervention assessment, patients in the couple-oriented intervention reported a greater decrease in their spouses' punishing responses (e.g., anger, irritation) than did patients in the patient-oriented intervention. In addition, a trend effect was observed in regard to the advantage of couple-oriented intervention for increasing spouses' attempts to distract patients from their pain. At the 6-month follow-up, patients in the couple-oriented intervention reported greater increased spouse support than those in the patient-oriented intervention. Findings illustrate the value of examining change in specific types of marital interactions targeted in a couples intervention, and the need to strengthen the impact of future couple-oriented interventions.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Means for spouse support at preintervention and 6-month follow-up. PES = patient education and support; CES = couple education and support.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Means for spouse punishing responses at pre- and postintervention. PES = patient education and support; CES = couple education and support.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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