Psychological morbidity in endometriosis: A couple’s study

Abstract

Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological disease that impacts more than 176 million women worldwide, having a strong impact on psychological morbidity. This study aimed to evaluate the contribution of psychological morbidity, in women with endometriosis, taking into consideration the duration of the couple’s relationship and the duration of the disease and also examine whether women’s sexual satisfaction had an impact on their psychological morbidity (actor effect) and on their sexual partners’ psychological morbidity (partner effect) and vice versa. Participants were 105 women and their partners, who answered the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS); Couple Satisfaction Index (CSI-4) and the Global Measure of Sexual Satisfaction (GMSEX). The results revealed a direct effect between the perception of symptom severity, marital satisfaction, and women’s psychological morbidity. Sexual activity and the presence of infertility had an indirect effect on the relationship between sexual satisfaction, diagnosis duration, and psychological morbidity, respectively. Finally, women’s sexual satisfaction had a direct effect on their own and partner’s marital satisfaction that predicted less psychological morbidity, in each. Thus, multidisciplinary interventions focused on the couple’s sexual and marital relationship, as well as illness representations, are needed to promote psychological well-being in this population.