“It’s a Right Pain in the Pelvis!”: Post-Traumatic Stress and Post-Traumatic Growth in a Sample of Females Experiencing Chronic Pelvic Pain

Figures & data

Table 1. Participants’ demographic information.

Variable	N	%
Age:
16–44 years	115	87.12
45–65+ years	17	12.90
Ethnicity:
British	86	65.65
Other	45	34.40
Religion:
Atheist	72	55.00
Christian	32	24.43
Catholic	14	10.70
Islam	2	1.53
Hindu	2	1.53
Other	9	6.90
Marital status:
Married	46	35.40
Single	22	16.92
In a relationship	16	12.31
Living with a partner	41	31.54
Divorced	5	3.85

Table 2. Most common responses to chronic pelvic pain–related questions.

Variable	N	%
Chronic pelvic pain experience:
Experienced chronic pelvic pain for the last 6 months	126	95.50
Had previous experience of chronic pelvic pain for 6 months or more	6	4.55
Diagnosis:
Officially diagnosed	103	78.03
No diagnosis	20	15.20
Cause of pelvic pain:
No condition	30	58.33
One condition	25	18.94
Multiple causes	77	58.33

Table 3. Descriptive statistics for all independent and dependent variables.

Variable	N	Mean / Median	SD
PTSD symptoms	128	55.16 / 54.00	16.51
PTG	129	45.68 / 46.00	19.91
Intrusive rumination	130	19.48 / 20.00	7.33
Deliberate rumination	130	18.62 / 18.00	5.49
Event centrality	131	13.34 / 12.00	5.82
Resilience	130	25.50 / 25.00	7.06
Optimism	132	14.11 / 14.00	5.41
Social support	131	33.91 / 32.17	14.65
Approach coping	131	26.31 / 25.00	6.80
Avoidant coping	131	32.35 / 32.00	6.16

Table 4. Regression analysis for PTSD symptoms.

Variable	Unstandardized B	SE	t
Intrusive rumination	1.526	.147	10.371**
Avoidant coping	.569	.153	3.899**
Resilience	.267	.131	2.043*
Deliberate rumination	−.014	.195	−.074
Event centrality	.259	.184	1.405
Approach coping	.059	.136	.437
Optimism	−.073	.180	−.409
Social support	−.091	.057	−1.587

Adjusted R² = .721; predictor = PTSD symptoms; ** <.001 * <.05.

Table 5. Regression analysis for PTG.

Variable	Unstandardized B	SE	t
Resilience	−.584	.261	−.2.238*
Social support	−.461	.113	−4.063**
Event centrality	−.265	.364	−.729
Intrusive rumination	−.061	.399	−.152
Deliberate rumination	−.499	.383	−1.303
Avoidant coping	−.378	.318	1.189
Approach coping	−.413	.266	−1.554
Optimism	.106	.352	.300
PTSD symptoms	−.177	.181	−.979

Adjusted R² = .268; predictor = PTG; ** <.001; * <.05.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author [CLW], upon reasonable request.