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Interpersonal Responses and Pain Management Within the US Military

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Abstract

Purpose Chronic pain poses a significant problem for the US military. The benefits of self-management treatments for chronic pain are well-documented, but interpersonal responses also influence physical and psychological health and may not be addressed through self-management treatments alone. The current study examines whether perceived interpersonal responses to pain, as measured by the Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI), change as a result of participation in an intensive pain management program. It was hypothesized that interpersonal responses to pain would be significantly correlated to psychosocial and physical pain outcomes and that interpersonal responses to pain would change significantly for completers of a functional restoration (FR) program compared to those who were randomized to treatment-as-usual in the military medical system. Methods Forty-four participants were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups. One treatment group received FR (n = 26) and the other group received treatment-as-usual (n = 18). Significant other responses to chronic pain were measured by the MPI (Pain 23(4):345–356, 1985). Participants also completed measures of impacted quality of life, reported disability, psychological distress, fear avoidance, pain interference, and physical activity. Results Perceived higher punishing responses from a significant other were significantly related to worse physical health-related quality of life (p = .037), work-related fear avoidance (p = .008), pain interference (p = .026), affective distress (p = .039), and pain while lifting (p = .017). Perceived higher solicitous responses from significant others were significantly associated with lower mental health-related quality of life (p = .011), household activity (p = 017), general activity (p = .042), self-reported disability (p = .030), lifting capacity (p = .005), and aerobic capacity (p = .009). Conclusions While findings are preliminary and of limited scope, it appears that the perception of significant others’ responses may be impacted by psychosocial and physical pain outcomes and may change after treatment. More work in this area is needed to uncover the benefits one might achieve when a significant other is included within the FR treatment framework.

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Acknowledgments

The authors’ time and effort in preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by a research grant to the STRONG STAR Multidisciplinary PTSD Research Consortium from the US Department of Defense through the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury Research Program (Alan L. Peterson: W81XWH-08-02-0109; Robert Gatchel: W81XWH-08-2-113).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, STRONG STAR, 7550 IH-10 West, Suite 1325, San Antonio, TX, 78229, USA

    Cindy A. McGeary, Tabatha H. Blount, Alan L. Peterson, Willie J. Hale & Donald D. McGeary

  2. Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA

    Robert J. Gatchel

Authors
  1. Cindy A. McGeary
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  2. Tabatha H. Blount
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  3. Alan L. Peterson
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  4. Robert J. Gatchel
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  5. Willie J. Hale
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  6. Donald D. McGeary
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Correspondence to Cindy A. McGeary.

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Conflict of interest

The authors’ (Cindy McGeary, Tabatha Blount, Alan Peterson, Robert Gatchel, Willie Hale and Don McGeary) declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments of comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study.

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The views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not represent the views of or an endorsement by the US Army, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the US Government.

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McGeary, C.A., Blount, T.H., Peterson, A.L. et al. Interpersonal Responses and Pain Management Within the US Military. J Occup Rehabil 26, 216–228 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-015-9605-2

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