Development of a Couple-based Mindfulness Intervention for Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is a costly public health problem that is associated with poor quality of life. Previous research has demonstrated extensive evidence showing that pain coping is not manifested by patients in isolation but within the context of significant relationships such as marriage. For instance, a partner may avoid or reject their partners' negative emotions about pain, provide unempathic responses to their partners' pain, or change their thoughts about pain. The patient's pain experience and the couples' relationship also have a cyclical relationship, in which both can affect each other and the overall quality of life for both partners. Currently, current clinical practice does not target both partners to alleviate pain. This is highly problematic given that a number of chronic pain patients-those with interpersonal distress-often do not complete, and thus, do not benefit fully from existing treatments. Even if treatment is completed, individuals may not maintain improvements if they return to distressed social environments that undermine individual coping efforts. Thus, it is clear that new interventions derived from integrative models of individual and dyadic coping are needed to alleviate pain and suffering in patients who are at risk for poor treatment outcomes. This research study aims to develop a novel psychological intervention aimed at couples in which one partner has chronic pain. Our central hypothesis is that a theoretically integrative intervention that improves both partners' psychological flexibility (i.e., acceptance, mindfulness, values-based action) and relational flexibility (i.e., emotional disclosure, empathic responding) skills will be feasible and valid and that it will alleviate pain and improve quality of life. This is a departure from current practice, which focuses solely on the patient's individual functioning, does not address the spouse's psychological inflexibility, and does not address relationship issues.