University of Tasmania
Browse

The temporal effect of emotional distress on psychological and physical functioning in endometriosis: A 12-month prospective study

Download (1.86 MB)
Version 2 2024-11-21, 01:06
Version 1 2023-05-21, 15:06
journal contribution
posted on 2024-11-21, 01:06 authored by C Dowding, A Mikocka-Walus, D Skvarc, Leesa Van NiekerkLeesa Van Niekerk, M O'Shea, L Olive, M Druitt, S Evans
Psychological factors of emotional distress and cognition have an important role in the understanding and management of endometriosis; however, their temporal relationship with key pain variables is not fully understood. This exploratory study sought to establish the temporal relationship between psychological and pain-related factors in a 12-month prospective study of 208 Australian women with endometriosis. Participants, aged 18-50 years and living in Australia, were recruited via social media and completed baseline (May 2019) and 12-month follow-up (June 2020) surveys. Participants who reported a diagnosis of endometriosis and menses in the past 12 months were included in the study. Structural equation modelling was used to determine the temporal effects of psychological and pain-related factors in endometriosis. In a covariate-adjusted model, baseline emotional distress was the only variable to predict pain catastrophizing (B=.24, p < .01), functional pain disability (B = .16, p < .05) and concomitant emotional distress (B = .55, p < .001) 12 months later, adjusting for age and chronic illness. Women who exhibit symptoms of distress may be at risk of poorer psychological and physical function at 12 months. Further research is required to understand the impact of psychological management early in the disease course.

History

Publication title

Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being

Volume

15

Issue

3

Pagination

1-18

ISSN

1758-0854

Department/School

Psychology

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Publication status

  • Published

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Rights statement

© 2022. The Authors. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Socio-economic Objectives

200509 Women's and maternal health, 200103 Human pain management, 280121 Expanding knowledge in psychology

UN Sustainable Development Goals

3 Good Health and Well Being