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
Measurement of Severity and Distress of Symptoms in Experimental
and Control Groups
The discussion in this section addresses a much neglected area of
research namely quantification of the severity and distress of
symptoms of the Couvade syndrome. The few investigations, which
have attempted to include similar measures, are Bogren’s (1983)
Swedish study which measured global ratings of discomfort and
Clinton’s (1987) which explored seriousness of symptoms. The
absence of these measures across the majority of studies may
impact on the level of reporting of these symptoms and patterns of
consultation with health care professionals.
The second study objective was to compare the severity and
distress of physical and psychological symptoms between the study
groups. A sizeable number of physical (17) and psychological
symptoms (14) showed statistically significant higher severity and
distress in the experimental group compared to the control group.
The relationship between symptom incidence, severity and distress
show inconsistent findings. For example, some physical (11) and
psychological symptoms (10) of higher incidence also showed
higher mean scores for severity and distress. Others showed a
similar incidence of physical (8) and psychological symptoms (3) yet
similar mean severity and distress scores between the study
groups. This might cast doubt on a clear interrelationship between
symptom incidence, severity and distress. For the most part the
mean severity scores for each symptom were similar to those of
distress. This does not mean that one was related to the other since
the physical symptom of “increased appetite” might be severe but
not necessarily distressing. The findings do, however, suggest that
the physical symptoms particularly those of a gastro-intestinal (6),
genitourinary (2), dental (1) and musculo-skeletal (2) nature are
confirmed as significantly more severe and distressing for those in
the experimental group who experienced them. Psychological
symptoms including those of sleep disturbance (2), mood
disturbance (1), emotional affect (4), cognitive function (2) and
miscellaneous (1) are confirmed likewise.
The Impact of Time on Severity and Distress of Symptoms in
Experimental and Control Groups
The discussion in this section addresses the impact of time on the
severity and distress of physical and psychological symptoms in
men with pregnant partners and those without. While past
investigations have identified the types of symptom experienced
over the trimesters of pregnancy and the postpartum period they
have not researched the severity and distress of these over the
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