A frequently reported disorder affecting mostly women, dyspareunia (pain with penile-vaginal intercourse) has been under-investigated in comparison to other sexual dysfunctions and pain syndromes. After presenting a critical review of the literature, delineating the history of description, classification, prevalence, etiology, and treatment, this thesis reports two sets of results from a clinical study of over 100 women who suffer pain with intercourse and 100 matched controls. A biopsychosocial protocol was used to assess both groups. Results from the two sets of analyses showed that (1) dyspareunia may be a heterogeneous disorder with, at least, three sub-types based on physical findings, (2) pain classification variables account for more of the variance in dyspareunia than the sexual dysfunction classification system currently in use, (3) higher levels of physical pathology, psychological distress and relational maladjustment are associated with dyspareunia in general, (4) biopsychosocial differences between the pain group and matched controls vary depending on the dyspareunia sub-type. The implications of this study underline the need for a research and clinical effort that integrates psychology and gynecology to address the heterogeneity of this complex disorder.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.40399 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Meana, Marta. |
| Contributors | Binik, Irving (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001537059, proquestno: NN19751, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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