MARITAL ADJUSTMENT OF MIGRAINE HEADACHE SUFFERERS AND THEIR SPOUSES: POST AUTOGENIC BIOFEEDBACK TRAINING.
Contributors: Rush University, College Of Nursing.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 205
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: This exploratory study sought to determine whether the marital adjustment of migraine headache sufferers and their spouses differed from nonmigrainous couples, whether the marital adjustment of headache sufferers unsuccessfully treated with autogenic biofeedback differed from that of those successfully treated headache sufferers.

The study's sample consisted of 44 married couples; one member of each couple had been treated for headaches at a multidisciplinary pain center in the midwest within the last three years. Nineteen suffered from migraine headaches, 14 from muscule contraction headaches, and 11 from combined headaches.

The couples who met the inclusion criteria were mailed questionnaires which included Spanier's Dyadic Adjustment Scale, demographic questions, specific questions about their headaches, and questions about counseling. Data from the questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's r correlation, t-tests, analysis of variance, and regression analysis. Significant differences were at the .05 level. The findings from the study supported the first hypothesis that migraine headache sufferers and their spouses had different levels of marital adjustment than nonmigrainous couples for the Consensus, and Satisfaction subscales of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. The subscales of Cohesion and Affectional Expression and the total adjustment scale were not significantly different for the two groups.

The second hypothesis that unsuccessfully trained autogenic biofeedback migraine headache sufferers would report different levels of marital adjustment than successfully trained autogenic biofeedback individuals was supported for the total adjustment scale and the subscales Consensus and Satisfaction. The Cohesion and Affectional Expression subscales were similar for the two groups. The results substantiate previous research that reports chronic pain patients having lower levels of marital adjustment, and also research that reports unsuccessfuly treated migraine headache sufferers deny emotional stress in their lives. Implications for nursing practice were explored.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-04, Section: B, page: 1153.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--RUSH UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE OF NURSING, 1984.

School code: 0591.