Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
“early morning waking”) previously reported by Trethowan and
Conlon, (1965); Conner and Denson, (1990); Masoni et al, (1994);
Chalmers and Meyer, (1996); Tsai and Chen, (1997) and Thomas
and Upton, (2000). Other symptoms, all of which are reported in
the literature, include mood disturbance: (“feeling low in mood”),
emotional affect: (“feeling annoyed” and “irritable”) and cognitive
disturbance: (“loss of concentration”, “feeling preoccupied” and
“feeling distracted”).
An interesting similarity between the findings of this phase of the
study and that of the qualitative phase is that “insomnia” and
“feeling depressed” were among the most commonly reported
psychological symptoms associated with the syndrome. However,
“anxiety” which was less commonly reported here is surprising and
contrasted with the findings of the qualitative phase and other
reports in the literature. The groups of psychological symptoms
showing a similar incidence between the experimental and control
groups included sleep disturbance: (“sleeping more than usual”),
mood disturbance: (“mood swings”), emotional affect: (“feeling
frustrated”, “feeling stressed” and “feeling restless”), miscellaneous:
(“lack of motivation”) and cognitive disturbance: (“loss of
memory”). These symptoms apart from “feeling stressed” are
confirmed by other studies as less commonly associated with the
syndrome.
A number of interpretations can be offered for the higher incidence
of physical symptoms. The first is “abdominal distension” most
probably suggestive of “pseudocyesis” or “phantom pregnancy” and
whose presence has been linked to the Couvade syndrome (Mayer
and Kapfhammer, 1993; Koić et al, 2004). This symptom was
unlikely to be related either to “increased appetite” or “weight gain”
given their similar incidence between the two study groups. The
higher incidence of “vomiting” in the experimental group confirms
one of the most common symptoms of the syndrome reported in
other studies by Trethowan and Conlon, (1965); Benvenuti et al,
(1989); Conner and Denson, (1990); Sizaret et al, (1991);
Khanobdee et al, (1993); Tsai and Chen, (1997) and Thomas and
Upton, (2000). The interpretation for “vomiting” could resemble
that provided in the qualitative study i.e. male partners hearing or
smelling their female partners vomiting especially in the early
stages of the pregnancy (Brennan et al, 2007b).
An interesting symptom reported was “toothache” euphemistically
known as “love pain” in historical times (Shakespeare, 1600). This
could have occurred either coincidentally or as a consequence of the
male partner’s “symptom attunement” to his pregnant partner’s
display of the same symptom as suggested by (Hugosson and Koch,
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