Advertisement

Adversarial Growth in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis and their Partners: Relationships with Illness Perceptions, Disability and Distress

  • Katie Ackroyd
  • Dónal G. Fortune
  • Siân Price
  • Stephen Howell
  • Basil Sharrack
  • Claire L. Isaac
Article
First Online:

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and their partners show adversarial growth and to examine which psychological and disability variables contribute to this in patients and their partners. The study also investigated the relationship between growth and distress. Seventy-two patients with MS and their partners provided demographic information and completed measures of posttraumatic growth, illness perceptions, depression, cognitive function and disability. Both patients and partners showed adversarial growth, with patients reporting significantly higher growth than partners. The only significant predictor for patient growth was partner growth, and vice versa. Dissimilarity in illness representations between patients and their partners on the consequences of MS dimension, patient mood and patient growth accounted for significant variance in partner growth. The findings support the idea of a ‘communal search for meaning’ where patients and their partners experience the trauma of having a chronic illness and subsequently find positive aspects together.

Keywords

Multiple sclerosis Adversarial growth Illness perceptions 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Abraído-Lanza, A. F., Guier, C., & Colón, R. M. (1998). Psychological thriving among latinas with chronic illness. Journal of Social Issues, 54, 405–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Affleck, G., & Tennen, H. (1996). Construing benefits from adversity: Adaptational significance and dispositional underpinnings. Journal of Personality, 64, 899–922.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Bowen, J., Gibbons, L., Gianas, A., & Kraft, G. (2001). Self-administered Expanded Disability Status Scale with functional system scores correlates well with physician-administered test. Multiple Sclerosis, 7, 201–206.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  4. Bride, O. M. C., Dunwoody, L., Lowe-Strong, A., & Kennedy, S. M. (2008). Examining adversarial growth in illness: The factor structure of the Silver Lining Questionnaire (SLQ-38). Psychology and Health, 23, 661–678.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Calhoun, L. G., & Tedeschi, R. G. (1998). Posttraumatic growth: Future directions. In R. G. Tedeschi, C. Park, & L. G. Calhoun (Eds.), Posttraumatic growth: Positive changes in the aftermath of crisis. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
  6. Danoff-Berg, S., & Revenson, T. A. (2005). Benefit-finding among patients with rheumatoid arthritis: Positive effects on interpersonal relationships. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 28, 91–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Dennison, L., Moss-Morris, R., & Chalder, T. (2009). A review of psychological correlates of adjustment in patients with multiple sclerosis. Clinical Psychology Review, 29, 141–153.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Doraiswamy, P. M., & Rao, S. M. (2004). Treating cognitive deficits in multiple sclerosis: Are we there yet? Neurology, 63, 1552.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  9. Evers, A. W. M., Kraaimaat, F. W., van Lankveld, W., Jongen, P. J. H., Jacobs, J. W. G., & Bijlsma, J. W. J. (2001). Beyond unfavourable thinking: The Illness Cognition Questionnaire for chronic diseases. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69, 1026–1036.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Figved, N., Myhr, K. M., Larsen, J. P., & Aarsland, D. (2007). Caregiver burden in multiple sclerosis: The impact of neuropsychiatric symptoms. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 78, 1097–1102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Fortune, D. G., Richards, H. L., Griffiths, C. E. M., & Main, C. J. (2005). Adversarial growth in patients undergoing treatment for psoriasis: A prospective study of the ability of patients to construe benefits from negative events. Psychology, Health and Medicine, 10, 44–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Hagger, M. S., & Orbell, S. (2003). A meta-analytic review of the common-sense model of illness representations. Psychology and Health, 18, 141–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Hefferon, K., Grealy, M., & Mutrie, N. (2009). Post traumatic growth and life threatening physical illness: A systematic review of the qualitative literature. British Journal of Health Psychology, 14, 343–378.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Heijmans, M., de Ridder, D., & Bensing, J. (1999). Dissimilarity in patients’ and spouses’ representations of chronic illness: Exploration of relations to patients adaptation. Psychology and Health, 14, 451–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Jopson, N. M., & Moss-Morris, R. (2003). The role of illness severity and illness representations in adjusting to multiple sclerosis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 54, 503–511.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Joseph, S., & Linley, P. A. (2006). Growth following adversity: Theoretical perspectives and implications for clinical practice. Clinical Psychology Review, 26, 1041–1053.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Katz, R. C., Flasher, L., Cacciapaglia, H., & Nelson, S. (2001). The psychosocial impact of cancer and lupus: A cross-validation study that extends the generality of ‘benefit-finding’ in patients with chronic disease. Journal of Behavioural Medicine, 24, 561–571.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Kramer, B. J. (1993). Marital history and the prior relationship as predictors of positive and negative outcomes among wife caregivers. Family Relations, 42, 367–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Kurtzke, J. F. (1983). Rating neurologic impairment in multiple sclerosis: An Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). Neurology, 33, 1444–1452.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  20. Lelorain, S., Bonnaud-Antignac, A., & Florin, A. (2010). Long term posttraumatic growth after breast cancer: Prevalence, predictors and relationships with psychological health. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 17, 14–22.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Leventhal, H., Diefenbach, M., & Leventhal, E. (1992). Illness cognition: Using common-sense to understand treatment adherence and affect-cognition interactions. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 16, 143–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Leventhal, H., Benyamini, Y., Brownlee, S., Diefenbach, M., Leventhal, E. A., Patrick-Miller, L., et al. (1997). Illness representations: Theoretical foundations. In K. J. Petrie & J. Weinman (Eds.), Perceptions of Health and Illness. London: Harwood Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
  23. Milam, J. E. (2004). Posttraumatic growth among HIV/AIDS patients. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34, 2353–2376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Mohr, D. C., & Cox, D. S. (2001). Multiple sclerosis: Empirical literature for the clinical health psychologist. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 57, 479–499.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Mohr, D. C., Dick, L. P., Russo, D., Pinn, J., Boudewyn, A. C., Likosky, W., et al. (1999). The psychosocial impact of multiple sclerosis: Exploring the patient’s perspective. Health Psychology, 18, 376–382.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Moss-Morris, R., Weinman, J., Petrie, K. J., Horne, R., Cameron, L. D., & Buick, D. (2002). The revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R). Psychology and Health, 17, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Nyenhuis, D. L., Luchetta, T., Yamamoto, C., Terrien, A., Bernardin, L., Rao, S. M., et al. (1998). The development, standardization and initial validation of the Chicago Multiscale Depression Inventory. Journal of Personality Assessment, 70, 386–401.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Pakenham, K. I. (2005). The positive impact of multiple sclerosis (MS) on carers: Associations between carer benefit finding and positive and negative adjustment domains. Disability and Rehabilitation, 27, 985–997.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Polman, C. H., Reingold, S. C., Edan, G., Filippi, M., Hartung, H. P., Kappos, L., et al. (2005). Diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis: 2005 revisions to the “McDonald Criteria”. Annals of Neurology, 58, 840–846.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Richards, H. L., Fortune, D. G., Chong, S. L. P., Mason, D. L., Sweeney, S. K. T., Main, C. J., et al. (2004). Divergent beliefs about psoriasis are associated with increased psychological distress. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 123, 49–56.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Sadovnick, A. D., Ebers, G. C., Dyment, D. A., & Risch, N. J. (1996). Evidence for genetic basis of multiple sclerosis. The Canadian Collaborative Study Group. Lancet, 347, 1728–1730.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Seidenberg, M., Haltiner, A., Taylor, M. A., Hermann, B. B., & Wyler, A. (1994). Development and validation of a multiple ability self-report questionnaire. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 16, 93–104.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Sharrack, B., & Hughes, R. A. (1999). Scale development and Guy’s Neurological Disability Scale. Journal of Neurology, 246, 226.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. Sharrack, B., & Jenkins, T. (2010). Disease modifying therapies in multiple sclerosis. International Journal of Clinical Practice, 64, 532–534.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Siegel, K., Schrimshaw, E. W., & Pretter, S. (2005). Stress-related growth among women living with HIV/AIDS: Examination of an exploratory model. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 28, 403–414.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (1996). Using multivariate statistics (3rd ed.). New York: Harper Collins College Publishers.Google Scholar
  37. Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (1996). The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory: Measuring the positive legacy of trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9, 455–471.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (2004). Posttraumatic growth: Conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychological Inquiry, 15, 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Tedeschi, R. G., Park, C., & Calhoun, L. G. (1998). Posttraumatic growth: Conceptual issues. In R.G. Tedeschi, C. Park, & L. G. Calhoun (Eds.), Posttraumatic growth: Positive changes in the aftermath of crisis. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
  40. Updegraff, J. A., Taylor, S. E., Kemeny, M. E., & Wyatt, G. E. (2002). Positive and negative effects of HIV infection in women with low socioeconomic resources. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 382–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Weiss, T. (2004). Correlates of posttraumatic growth in husbands of breast cancer survivors. Psycho-Oncology, 13, 260–268.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  • Katie Ackroyd
    • 1
  • Dónal G. Fortune
    • 3
  • Siân Price
    • 2
  • Stephen Howell
    • 2
  • Basil Sharrack
    • 2
  • Claire L. Isaac
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology UnitUniversity of SheffieldSheffieldUK
  2. 2.Department of NeurologyRoyal Hallamshire HospitalSheffieldUK
  3. 3.Acquired Brain Injury IrelandDublinRepublic of Ireland

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options