Relationship and Sexual Adjustment in Couples with Vulvodynia. V 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Lived Experience of Relationship and Sexual Adjustment in Couples with Vulvodynia-An Interpretative Phenomenological Study
IRAS ID
243810
Contact name
Lesley Boswell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Exeter
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 2 months, 1 days
Research summary
Vulvodynia is a common form of chronic vulval pain, experienced by women. The estimated prevalence of vulvodynia is 8 %; it is a condition, which is thought to be underestimated in terms of prevalence (Harlow and Stewart, 2003). Vulvodynia is often misdiagnosed with women suffering for long periods without relief. It is a difficult condition to treat and manage with potentially multiple impacts on the woman with vulvodynia, her couple relationship and sexual intimacy.
The research proposed has the potential benefit of gaining a better understanding and making sense of relational and sexual adjustment in couples coping with vulvodynia, which could potentially make an important preliminary contribution to informing and developing new treatment interventions in couple sex therapy.
The research proposed will use a qualitative approach, employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Ten research participants and their partners will be drawn from treating clinicians, who are members of the Vulval Pain multi-disciplinary team members (including dermatology, sexual health, pain, gynaecology and physiotherapy) in an NHS Trust.
Potential couple participants will have a diagnosis of vulvodynia and have reported minimum sexual pain duration of 6 months. Couples will have been in a committed monogamous relationship for 1- 10 years and co-habiting. Couples will be heterosexual or lesbian in sexual orientation. Exclusion criteria include couples currently pregnant, planning a pregnancy and couples with a diagnosis of a major medical disorder or major mental illness.
Interviews will be conducted separately for the individuals (10) with vulvodynia and their couple partner (10). Up to 20 interviews will be separately conducted using an open ended, semi structured interview style framed around the research question with identical questions for both partners of each couple. Consent will be obtained to audio -record each of the interviews.
Data collection is anticipated to take up to 6 months.REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/NW/0677
Date of REC Opinion
6 Nov 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion