The influence of the significant other on treatment adherence in chronic pain management: a qualitative analysis

Abstract

Objectives. Adherence to treatment recommendations is critical for optimising quality of life for individuals with chronic pain, however adherence rates are low. This study explores the role that significant others are perceived to play in supporting or impeding treatment adherence, as well as examining patient views of the impact of their adherence regimes on their significant others.

Design. 25 treatment seeking adults with chronic pain, who were currently living with a romantic partner or adult family member, took part in individual semi-structured interviews.

Main outcome measures Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis.

Results. Three treatment adherence support themes emerged: social support (emotional, instrumental), positive social control, and supporting autonomy. Participants did not perceive significant others as having any negative influence on their adherence. By contrast, patients perceived that their adherence behaviors had both positive and negative effects on their significant others.

Conclusions. These data present an encouraging perspective on the interpersonal context of coping with chronic pain. Significant others facilitated adherence in a range of ways. Future research identifying how best to integrate significant other support into patient self-management programs is needed, in order to lift the poor treatment adherence rates that are noted in the literature.

Keywords:

• Chronic pain
• adherence
• significant other
• treatment
• social support

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Grace Tague, Dr Lewis Holford and all the staff and patients at Northern Pain Centre, Sydney for their assistance with this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.