Spouses' Cardiovascular Reactivity Presentation

Abstract

The presentation was created from an article on, “Spouses’ cardiovascular reactivity to their partners’ suffering. A person who is caring for their spouse that has a disease or disability may feel negative effects on their own physical and psychological health. In close relationships, suffering can sometimes be contagious and there are strong associations between a husband and wives’ emotional distress. The emotional distress increases cardiovascular reactivity in a caregiver. One aim of the study was to examine the extent to which exposure to a partner’s suffering affects cardiovascular reactivity in an experimental setting. Spouses were asked to watch their partners perform a pain-eliciting household task and talk about three dimensions of their partners’ suffering (physical symptoms, psychological distress, and spiritual distress). The second aim of the study was to examine the extent to which the nature of a couple’s relationship influenced a person’s cardiovascular response to their partner’s suffering. A caregiver’s reaction may rely on the satisfaction that they feel from their relationship with their spouse. The hypothesis stated that exposure to suffering in a laboratory setting will influence caregiving for a spouses’ cardiovascular functioning in an unique way. The study used fifty-three care recipients that have osteoarthritis and their spouses who are their caregivers. The participants had to be more than forty-five years old and have experienced moderate pain in the past month.