Maathz Pernilla, Flink Ida K, Engman Linnea, Ekdahl Johanna
Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Center for Health and Medical Psychology (CHAMP), School of Law, Psychology and Social Work, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
Pain Med. 2020 Dec 25;21(12):3596-3602. doi: 10.1093/pm/pnaa042.
Persistent vulvovaginal pain affects many women and often has adverse effects on sexual functioning. Psychological inflexibility related to pain is associated with distress and functional disability across different types of chronic pain conditions, but little is known about the role of psychological inflexibility in vulvovaginal pain. The present study examines psychological inflexibility related to pain as a predictor of sexual functioning over time among women with vulvovaginal pain.
Questionnaires including measures of psychological inflexibility, pain severity, and sexual functioning were administered to female university students at two points in time. One hundred thirty women with vulvovaginal pain responded to the questionnaire at baseline and at follow-up after 10 months. A multiple regression model was used to explore psychological inflexibility and pain severity as predictors of sexual functioning at follow-up.
Higher levels of psychological inflexibility and more severe pain at baseline were associated with poorer sexual functioning 10 months later. In analysis adjusting for baseline levels of sexual functioning, psychological inflexibility was the only significant predictor of sexual functioning at follow-up.
The findings provide preliminary evidence that psychological inflexibility is associated with sexual adjustment over time among women with vulvovaginal pain and point to the relevance of further examinations of the psychological inflexibility model in the context of vulvovaginal pain.
持续性外阴阴道疼痛影响众多女性，且常对性功能产生不利影响。与疼痛相关的心理僵化与不同类型慢性疼痛状况下的痛苦和功能障碍相关，但心理僵化在外阴阴道疼痛中的作用却鲜为人知。本研究考察与疼痛相关的心理僵化作为外阴阴道疼痛女性性功能随时间变化的预测因素。
在两个时间点向女大学生发放问卷，包括心理僵化、疼痛严重程度和性功能的测量指标。130名患有外阴阴道疼痛的女性在基线时和10个月后的随访时对问卷作出回应。采用多元回归模型探究心理僵化和疼痛严重程度作为随访时性功能预测因素的情况。
基线时较高水平的心理僵化和更严重的疼痛与10个月后较差的性功能相关。在对基线性功能水平进行校正的分析中，心理僵化是随访时性功能的唯一显著预测因素。
研究结果提供了初步证据，表明心理僵化与外阴阴道疼痛女性随时间推移的性适应相关，并指出在 外阴阴道疼痛背景下进一步检验心理僵化模型的相关性。
