Psychosocial factors associated with pain and sexual function in women with Vulvodynia: a systematic review
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Vulvodynia is a prevalent chronic vulval pain condition affecting 10%-28% of women, and significantly impacting their health and quality of life. It is currently poorly understood and biomedical treatments achieve only modest benefits for pain and sexual functioning. A wider psychosocial conceptualization of this condition may improve outcomes. There is currently no coherent understanding of how psychosocial factors may contribute to outcomes in Vulvodynia. The aim of this review is to identify and systematically review psychosocial factors associated with pain and sexual outcomes and to inform a psychosocial model of Vulvodynia. DATABASES AND DATA TREATMENT: Observational/experimental studies reporting on the association between psychosocial factors and pain/sexual outcomes in adult women with Vulvodynia were eligible. Two reviewers independently conducted eligibility screening, data extraction and quality assessment. Twenty-one studies were included, all focused on women with Provoked Vestibulodynia (PVD). Most of the studies were low-to-medium quality. RESULTS/CONCLUSION: A range of general/pain-related distress and avoidance processes, and sex/intimacy avoidance or engagement processes were significantly associated with pain, sexual functioning or sexual distress and sexual satisfaction, supporting the role of a psychosocial approach to PVD. Depression, anxiety, catastrophizing, pain-anxiety, pain acceptance, body-exposure anxiety, attention to sexual cues, partner hostility and solicitousness, self-efficacy and penetration cognitions are highlighted as potentially important treatment targets in PVD. Due to the limited data available, developing a psychosocial model was not possible. Directions for future research include examining the replicability and generalizability of the factors identified, exploring differences/similarities across Vulvodynia subsets and testing tailored theoretically based treatments. SIGNIFICANCE: The systematic review highlights the role of psychosocial factors associated with pain and sexual functioning in Vulvodynia. The review findings reveal that Vulvodynia presents both similar and unique cognitive, behavioural and interpersonal features compared to other chronic pain conditions. There may be important roles for negative sexual cues, body image-related factors during intercourse, partner factors, self-efficacy beliefs and penetration cognitions, in relation to pain and sexual functioning.
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A study including women with provoked and mixed/spontaneous Vulvodynia found that pain-acceptance and committed-action predicted greater emotional functioning and lower pain interference over three months.
“a study that included women with provoked and mixed/spontaneous Vulvodynia (Chisari et al., 2021) found that pain-acceptance and committed-action predicted greater emotional functioning and lower pain interference over three months.”
From Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for women living with Vulvodynia: A single-case experimental design study of a treatment delivered online (2022) · cites this paper as Chisari et al., 2021
The Results section on pain acceptance reports an association between greater pain acceptance, lower intercourse pain, and higher sexual satisfaction in women with provoked vestibulodynia. It does not report committed action predicting emotional functioning or pain interference over three months. The Results overview also states that all women in the reviewed studies had provoked vestibulodynia and that the pain outcomes did not concern spontaneous pain. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredCognitive behavioural factors are associated with experience of pain and sexual functioning.
“Cognitive behavioural factors are associated with experience of pain and sexual functioning, suggesting that addressing emotional and sexual cognitive factors is important in vulvodynia management (Chisari and Chilcot, 2017; Chisari et al., 2021).”
From Internet-based treatment for vulvodynia (EMBLA) – Study protocol for a randomised controlled study (2021) · cites this paper as Chisari et al., 2021
Addressing emotional and sexual cognitive factors is important in vulvodynia management.
“Cognitive behavioural factors are associated with experience of pain and sexual functioning, suggesting that addressing emotional and sexual cognitive factors is important in vulvodynia management (Chisari and Chilcot, 2017; Chisari et al., 2021).”
From Internet-based treatment for vulvodynia (EMBLA) – Study protocol for a randomised controlled study (2021) · cites this paper as Chisari et al., 2021
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ANSIEDADE E DEPRESSÃO NA VULVODÍNIA
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VULVODYNIA AND ITS IMPACT ON WOMEN’S QUALITY OF LIFE
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- Authors
- Chisari, C., Monajemi, M. B., Scott, W., Moss‐Morris, R., & McCracken, L. M.
- Affiliations
- Health Psychology Section Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience King’s College, London London UK
- King's College London (GB)
- Uppsala University (SE)
- Corresponding author
- McCracken, Lance M.
- Venue
- European Journal of Pain
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-10-19
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 39-50
- ISSN
- 1090-3801 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-2149
- PMC
- PMC7821117
- OpenAlex
- W3090263951
- Cited by
- 83
- References
- 75
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 1.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- European Journal of Pain (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Health Research
- South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
- King’s College London
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Sexual function and dysfunction studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Genital Health and Disease
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Rheumatology › Pelvic floor disorders treatments
- Keywords
- vulvodynia, provoked vestibulodynia, psychosocial factors, sexual function, sexual distress, sexual satisfaction, depression, anxiety, pain catastrophizing, pain acceptance, self-efficacy, intimacy avoidance, body image, sexual cues, psychosocial model
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Coitus, Female, Humans, Quality of Life, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sexual Behavior, Vulvodynia
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