This study aims to test the efficacy of a 4-session intervention (Group psychoeducational treatment) using a randomized study design. Participants will be randomized in to 'immediate treatment' or 'waitlist control'. Women in the wait-list condition will receive the 4-session IMPROVED treatment, just as women randomized to the experimental group, after the end of their wait-list period.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
97
The Group Psychoeducational Treatment consists of treatment in small group format (8-9 women). Each session will be 2.25 hours in duration and there will be four, bi-weekly sessions over the course of 2 months. Session content includes education about chronic pain, PVD, stress and sexual response, mindfulness practices, and cognitive techniques to notice thought patterns that contribute to increased pain. Participants in the Waitlist Control Condition will receive this treatment at the end of the waitlist period (approximately 8 weeks)
No treatment will be provided during the 8 week Waitlist control period
British Columbia Centre for Sexual Medicine
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Pain intensity
Pain intensity will be measured with the Q-tip test- a standard method of diagnosing vestibulodynia and assessing the pain associated with the diagnosis. The Q-tip test involves the physician lightly touching a Q-tip to specific areas around the vulvar vestibule while the patient indicates how much pain they feel on a scale from 0-10 in response to this provoked touch.
Time frame: one week pre-treatment to one week post treatment
Long-term pain intensity
Pain intensity will be measured with the Q-tip test- a standard method of diagnosing vestibulodynia and assessing the pain associated with the diagnosis. The Q-tip test involves the physician lightly touching a Q-tip to specific areas around the vulvar vestibule while the patient indicates how much pain they feel on a scale from 0-10 in response to this provoked touch
Time frame: One week pre-treatment to 6 months post preatment
Sexual Distress
The investigators will examine women's self-reported sexual distress by administering the Female Sexual Distress Scale-Revised (Derogatis et al, 2008)
Time frame: One week pre-treatment, one week post treatment and 6-months follow up
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