ASSOCIATION OF PECTORALIS MINOR MUSCLE LENGTH AND SHOULDER RANGE OF MOTION AMONG INDIVIDUALS WITH AND WITH OUT SHOULDER PAIN

Background and Aim: To evaluate the association of pectoralis minor muscle length and the shoulder range of motion with and without shoulder pain. Methodology: A sample of 214 participants with and without shoulder pain were enrolled in an analytical cross sectional study at Institute of physical medicine and rehabilitation, Dow University of health sciences, Karachi.  Questionnaire was provided to all participants after taking consent. Individuals were categorized into two equal groups i.e. one with and the other without pain). Shoulder active ranges were measured with universal goniometer and pectoralis minor length with measuring tape. Statistical Package of Social Sciences version 21 was used for data analysis. The descriptive variables were assessed for frequencies and percentages. Continuous variables were shown with mean and standard deviations and were correlated with bivariate correlation test. Considered significant was 0.05 p value. Results: Females were 176(82.2%) and males were 38 (17.8%). Mean ± SD of age, weight, height, and BMI were 26.82 ±7.50, 58.45 ±12.11, 160.59 ± 12.43, and 22.18 ±3.78 respectively. The pain intensity negatively correlated with shoulder range of motions (rs = -0.307 to -0.775, p< 0.05) except medial rotation.  Significant difference (p< 0.05) is found for length of pectoralis minor and range of motion between groups. There was also weak positive correlation between pectoralis minor index and shoulder lateral rotation (rs =0.215; p = 0.003). Conclusion: The shoulder pain affects shoulder joint range of motion and pectoralis minor length. Decreased pectoralis minor muscle length accompanies limited shoulder range of motion except, medial rotation.

Role of Adult Attachment, Conflict Resolution, Communication Competence and Social Support in Marital Satisfaction Among Couples

The present research was carried out to explore the adult attachment and its association on the marital satisfaction among couples in Pakistan. The main objective of the current study was to find out the relationship of adult attachment for marital satisfaction among couples and also to find out the relationship of husbands` attachment dimensions on the wives’ marital satisfaction and impact of wives’ attachment dimensions on the husband marital satisfaction. Present research further explored three factors i.e. conflict resolution, social support, and communication competence and their role as mediating variables between attachment and marital satisfaction. The research comprised three studies. Study I deals with translation and determination of psychometric properties of Experiences in Close Relationships- Revised questionnaire (Fraley, Waller, & Brennan, 2000); Enrich Couple Scales (Olson, 1996); and Social Provision Scale (Cutrona & Russell, 1987). Part I of study- I deals with ttranslation, adaptation, and cross language validation of the instrument. Part II deals with pretesting Instruments on a small sample and also determines the construct validity like Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Initially the researcher translated the scale into Urdu language and then carries out pre-testing on a small sample of 48 married individuals. The results of pretesting indicated that all the three instruments were showing satisfactory reliabilities indices. Afterwards the translated instruments were ready for Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) on a sample of 300 married individuals. As results of CFA reduced final instruments were administered to a sample of 96 married couples (192 individuals) to verify the psychometric properties and testing the preliminary hypothesis in pilot study. Correlation coefficients were computed as indices to verify the magnitude and direction among various variables. Finally main study was conducted with N=350 (175 couples) on diverse groups on the basis of age, education, income, family system, length of relationship and number of children. There are three mediating variables, such as, conflict resolution, social support, and communication competence which are hypothesized to mediate the relationship between adult attachment and marital satisfaction. Consistent with hypothesis the research shows that three separate models were drawn to check the path analysis in AMOS software and these models are based upon Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) and it is found that conflict resolution is contributing as a mediating variable between attachment and marital satisfaction. For example anxious female is affecting her own conflict resolution as compared to avoidant female who aeffects the partners` marital satisfaction. Communication competence of both partners is fully mediating the relationship between avoidance and marital satisfaction. Similarly, social support is fully mediating the relationship between both partners` avoidance and their marital satisfaction. Finally, it was concluded that couples with anxious and avoidant attachment reported less marital satisfaction and there is a significant role of conflict resolution, communication competence and social support in strengthening the marital satisfaction. In the end, the findings are discussed in light of Pakistani cultural context and its implications in the Pakistani society.