TY - JOUR
T1 - Partners’ motivations for accommodating posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in service members
T2 - The reasons for accommodation of PTSD scale
AU - Renshaw, Keith D.
AU - Allen, Elizabeth S.
AU - Fredman, Steffany J.
AU - Giff, Sarah T.
AU - Kern, Catherine
N1 - Funding Information:
This research and development project was conducted by University of Colorado Denver, approved by the Colorado Multiple Institution Board (COMIRB), effective 12/14/2012, and is made possible by a research grant that was awarded and administered by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and the United States Army Medical Research and Material Command (USAMRMC), under Contract Number W81XWH-12-1-0090. The views, opinions and/or findings contained in this research are those of the author(s)/company and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Defense and should not be construed as an official DoD/Army position, policy or decision unless so designated by other documentation. No official endorsement should be made. Steffany J. Fredman's time was supported by the Karl R. Fink and Diane Wendle Fink Early Career Professorship for the Study of Families at The Pennsylvania State University and grants KL2 TR002015 and UL1 TR002014 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science.
Funding Information:
This research and development project was conducted by University of Colorado Denver, approved by the Colorado Multiple Institution Board (COMIRB), effective 12/14/2012, and is made possible by a research grant that was awarded and administered by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and the United States Army Medical Research and Material Command (USAMRMC) , under Contract Number W81XWH-12-1-0090. The views, opinions and/or findings contained in this research are those of the author(s)/company and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Defense and should not be construed as an official DoD/Army position, policy or decision unless so designated by other documentation. No official endorsement should be made. Steffany J. Fredman’s time was supported by the Karl R. Fink and Diane Wendle Fink Early Career Professorship for the Study of Families at The Pennsylvania State University and grants KL2 TR002015 and UL1 TR002014 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/4
Y1 - 2020/4
N2 - Emerging research reinforces the importance of partner accommodation in the interpersonal context of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A better understanding of partners’ motivations for accommodation is needed to help refine or design interventions that target accommodation. To explore partners’ motivations, we created the Reasons for Accommodation of PTSD Scale (RAPS) and evaluated it in 263 female partners of male Army soldiers who had returned from a deployment within the past 2 years. Soldiers completed a measure of military-related PTSD, and partners completed a measure of accommodation and the newly created RAPS. Factor analysis of the RAPS yielded a clear, 3-factor solution suggesting the following reasons for accommodating: (1) Relationship & Obligation, or a desire for positive relationship outcomes and a sense of duty or responsibility; (2) Helping Recovery, or a belief that avoidance was helpful for the service member; and (3) Conflict Avoidance/Helplessness, or a desire to avoid conflict or simply not knowing what else to do. Analyses of these factors in relation to soldiers’ PTSD clusters indicated that hyperarousal symptoms were uniquely associated with relationship and obligation motivations, re-experiencing symptoms were uniquely associated with helping recovery motivations, and emotional numbing symptoms were uniquely associated with conflict avoidance and helplessness motivations. Furthermore, conflict avoidance and helplessness accounted for the greatest variance in partners’ accommodation frequency and distress. Assessment of partners’ accommodative behaviors, as well as their motivations for engaging in accommodation, may aid in treatment planning and enhance outcomes for couples in which one individual has PTSD.
AB - Emerging research reinforces the importance of partner accommodation in the interpersonal context of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A better understanding of partners’ motivations for accommodation is needed to help refine or design interventions that target accommodation. To explore partners’ motivations, we created the Reasons for Accommodation of PTSD Scale (RAPS) and evaluated it in 263 female partners of male Army soldiers who had returned from a deployment within the past 2 years. Soldiers completed a measure of military-related PTSD, and partners completed a measure of accommodation and the newly created RAPS. Factor analysis of the RAPS yielded a clear, 3-factor solution suggesting the following reasons for accommodating: (1) Relationship & Obligation, or a desire for positive relationship outcomes and a sense of duty or responsibility; (2) Helping Recovery, or a belief that avoidance was helpful for the service member; and (3) Conflict Avoidance/Helplessness, or a desire to avoid conflict or simply not knowing what else to do. Analyses of these factors in relation to soldiers’ PTSD clusters indicated that hyperarousal symptoms were uniquely associated with relationship and obligation motivations, re-experiencing symptoms were uniquely associated with helping recovery motivations, and emotional numbing symptoms were uniquely associated with conflict avoidance and helplessness motivations. Furthermore, conflict avoidance and helplessness accounted for the greatest variance in partners’ accommodation frequency and distress. Assessment of partners’ accommodative behaviors, as well as their motivations for engaging in accommodation, may aid in treatment planning and enhance outcomes for couples in which one individual has PTSD.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102199
DO - 10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102199
M3 - Article
C2 - 32097730
AN - SCOPUS:85079850351
VL - 71
JO - Journal of Anxiety Disorders
JF - Journal of Anxiety Disorders
SN - 0887-6185
M1 - 102199
ER -