The Coping Circumplex Model: An Integrative Model of the Structure of Coping With Stress

How are students coping one year after the COVID-19 lockdown? A photoelicitation project

Objective: To understand how students are coping one year after campuses were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants: Students at a large state university in Midwestern USA. Method: Sequential mixed method study. A photo-survey of students' experiences was conducted as part of an ethnographic study of "college life." Student researchers and faculty collaboratively analyzed photos and accompanying text for coping strategies. Association of coping strategies with respondents' characteristics was assessed with inferential statistics. Results: Most respondents alluded to the negative mental toll of the pandemic and predominantly utilized emotion-focused coping strategies. Non-binary students and students who lived off but close to campus appeared to have fewer coping strategies than their peers. Conclusion: The experiences of diverse student sub-populations differ. Photos give researchers a unique vista into students' experiences. Students - as co-researchers - can help campuses understand the stresses associated with their college experiences and how they are coping.

Differences in predicting athletic burnout and in moderating its relationship with life satisfaction in competitive and leisure athletes

The effects of athletic burnout on life satisfaction vary greatly between individuals, but few studies have examined influencing factors, such as coping mechanisms, that explain these differences. While athletes' performance levels seem to influence the development of burnout symptoms, there is a lack of studies examining different performance levels separately. The present study therefore investigated the predictors of athletic burnout in competitive and leisure athletes separately, as well as possible moderators influencing the relationship between burnout and life satisfaction in these groups. A cross-sectional online study with sport-specific and general questionnaires was conducted. Latent (e.g., resilience) and manifest variables (e.g., stress) were included as predictors of athletic burnout in two structural equation models (competitive: robust RMSEA = 0.065, robust CFI = 0.946; leisure: robust RMSEA = 0.067, robust CFI = 0.937) with data from 422 athletes (Mage = 23.65; range = 16-67; 43% female, 57% male). Additionally, moderation analyses with coping mechanisms as moderators between burnout and life satisfaction were conducted. Results show that predictors of athletic burnout differ between performance levels. Furthermore, there is a significant moderation effect (p < 0.01) for positive self-concept in competitive sports. Approaches for future research and the development of target group-specific interventions are discussed.

Physiotherapists' perspectives on factors affecting the scope of in-home palliative care treatments: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Physiotherapy has demonstrated significant benefits in enhancing quality of life and managing symptoms of people in need of palliative care (PC). Despite these benefits, palliative physiotherapy is infrequently integrated into community-based care, where most PC services are delivered. The limited prevalence of these treatments highlights the need to explore the factors influencing their delivery in home settings.

OBJECTIVES

This study‎ aimed to elucidate the factors that influence the scope of occasional in-home palliative physiotherapists' interventions as perceived by the physiotherapists who provide these treatments.

METHODS

A qualitative study was conducted, involving 15 physiotherapists (nine women and six men), all employed by a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), who typically work in community-based clinics but occasionally provide palliative physiotherapy treatments outside of their regular working hours. Data were collected via in-depth, semi-structured interviews, using an interview guide and analyzed using reflective thematic analysis.

RESULT

Two main themes emerged: (1) External factors influencing the scope of palliative physiotherapy treatments. These include patients' characteristics and their disposition toward palliative physiotherapy treatments, family dynamics amongst each other and with the physiotherapists, and interactions of the physiotherapists with the palliative multidisciplinary team; (2) Physiotherapists‎'‎ inclination to provide PC treatments. This theme encompasses the physiotherapists' knowledge, role perception, emotional experiences, and coping strategies during the provision of PC.

CONCLUSION

External and personal factors shape the scope of in-home PC treatments. Improving communication and addressing emotional challenges and coping strategies could enhance care delivery.

A qualitative study of psychological stress and coping among persons using crack cocaine

BACKGROUND

Research has identified a strong link between stress and drug use behaviours. Also, it has been established that the prolonged use of crack cocaine stimulates emotional, cognitive, neurological and social changes. This paper explores the psychological stressors that occur from crack cocaine use and the coping mechanisms used to mitigate them. This will provide an understanding of the intricate relationship between substance use and psychological well-being.

METHODOLOGY

The study is qualitative and uses a descriptive phenomenological approach. The coping circumplex model is the theoretical model that underpins the study. Data was collected through 26 face-to-face in-depth semi-structured interviews with people who use crack cocaine. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Participants consisted of 15 males and 11 females between the ages of 24-57 years, guaranteeing multiplicity within the study sample.

RESULTS

Cravings, financial burdens, relationship breakdown and emotional /cognitive stimulation were revealed as psychological stressors. Maladaptive coping which includes self-harm, isolation, not speaking about/not dealing with emotions and using substances were adopted by study participants. Also, positive coping such as seeking help and keeping busy were adopted by study participants. Social and environmental factors such as stigma, easy accessibility of crack and flashbacks served as barriers to positive coping. Positive coping was linked to the availability and easy accessibility to social support and strong family bonds, underlining the importance of accessible support systems in managing the challenges linked with crack cocaine use.

CONCLUSION

The challenges faced by study participants in coping with the psychological stressors linked to their crack cocaine use highlight the importance of adopting personalised and comprehensive strategies to tackle the intricate dynamics between psychological stress, coping and crack cocaine use.

Positive Humor/Affection and Age Advantages in Affective Responses During the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of people worldwide. However, even in times of prolonged exposure to extreme and new realities such as this pandemic, people are also able to experience positive emotions. To understand how people's emotional responses have changed over the course of the pandemic and what helps people to be positively engaged in perceiving negative situations as an opportunity to experience positive emotions, we conducted a three-wave longitudinal study in Spain. A total of 396 participants (Mage = 40.11, SD 12.66, 74% women) completed three waves of a web-based survey during the lockdown. Descriptive and correlational analyses, a repeated measures General Lineal Model, and 4 mixed effects models with a random effect on individuals were conducted to test hypotheses. Growth models revealed that positive and negative affect increased over time. Older people show more positive and less negative affectivity. Positive humor and affection coping strategies bolster positive emotions and buffer negative emotions over time in older participants. Older people who use more positive humor and affection experienced more positive emotions and decreased their levels of negative emotions over time. The different trajectories in positive and negative affect suggest age benefits in emotional regulation and a positive effect in older ages during the lockdown. Positive psychological interventions that boost a person's coping repertoire by helping them increase the experience of positive emotions may hold great promise aiding people to bolster their mental health in highly stressful and unexpected future crises.

Depression, anxiety and coping strategies among Palestinian university students during political violence: a cross sectional study

Background

There are numerous wars and ongoing political violence in Palestine and little is known about how they have affected Palestinian undergraduate students' mental health and coping strategies. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of depression, and anxiety symptoms and coping mechanisms among Palestinian university students during the times of current political violence in Palestine after October 7, 2023.

Methods

A cross-sectional descriptive study design was utilized for a sample of students from 3 universities in Palestine (Al Quds University, Hebron University, and An-Najah University) and 1815 participants responded. Data were collected using self-reported questionnaires, including Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Brief COPE scale. Person correlation test, chi-square test, and bivariate analysis were performed to examine the associations between research variables.

Results

The estimated prevalence of depression was 65.9, and 60.9% for anxiety. The logistic regression showed that students from the Arts Faculty, females, and those with working parents were significantly more likely to experience depression and anxiety symptoms. Also, active coping, emotional support, and humor reduced the likelihood of experiencing depression symptoms, while active coping, positive reframing, humor, and acceptance decreased the likelihood of developing anxiety symptoms. Further, the study found that using religion, self-blame, denial, and behavioral disengagement increased the likelihood of depression symptoms while planning, venting, religion, self-blame, denial, and behavioral disengagement increased the likelihood of anxiety symptoms.

Conclusion

The study found that political violence often leads to symptoms of depression and anxiety among undergraduates. Furthermore, the use of maladaptive coping mechanisms increases the likelihood that these symptoms will occur. Providing immediate assistance to university students affected by political violence and conflicts is crucial for their emotional and mental recovery and coping with difficulties.

A meta-analysis of coping strategies and psychological distress in rheumatoid arthritis

PURPOSE

Theory and research indicate that coping plays a central role in the experience of psychological distress in people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study meta-analysed the associations of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies with psychological distress in people with RA to quantify and better understand the proposed differential relationships, as well as the factors that might influence these links.

METHODS

Searches of four databases identified eligible studies according to a pre-registered protocol. Two random effects meta-analyses examined the direction and magnitude of the links between adaptive coping (problem-focused and emotional approach coping) and maladaptive coping (emotional avoidance and pre-occupation coping) and psychological distress (stress, anxiety, and depression). Study quality was evaluated using a bespoke tool. Moderator analyses for sample characteristics and distress type were conducted.

RESULTS

Searches identified 16 eligible studies with 46 effects. Meta-analysis of maladaptive coping and distress yielded a significant, medium sized association, k = 12, r = .347, 95% CIs [.23, .46]. Moderator analyses were significant only for type of distress, with effects for depression being larger than that for combined distress. Effects did not vary as a function of age, participant sex, or disease duration. Meta-analysis for adaptive coping was not significant, k = 10, r = -.155, 95% CIs [-.31, .01].

CONCLUSIONS

Findings from this first meta-analysis of coping and distress in RA indicate that maladaptive but not adaptive coping is associated with greater distress. Further research is needed to grow the evidence base to verify the current findings especially with respect to adaptive coping.

Toward stressor-free stress estimation: The integrated information theory explains the information dynamics of stress

Recent neurological studies have revealed several detailed stress mechanisms. However, the latent variables behind stress study still interpret stress responses as difficult. Therefore, we propose a stressor-free method of stress evaluation using Integrated Information Theory (IIT) to address these issues. We conducted experiments inducing acute stress responses against tasks with three levels of difficulty, easy, moderate, and difficult, to verify the IIT in stress study. The moderate condition was related to active coping with stress. By contrast, the easy and difficult conditions are related to passive stress coping. Especially, the easy condition seemed to cause boredom. Our results revealed that the degree of entangled system fluctuation was associated with the subjective ratings for the tasks. Interestingly, our method could also evaluate stress as a state of boredom that had not received much research attention. Our method can be an alternative stress estimation method to overcome the latent variable problem.

The moderating role of coping styles on the associations of fatigue with life satisfaction in Chinese nurses: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Fatigue affects nurses negatively and may influence life satisfaction. According to the stress process model, active coping might influence the impact of adverse conditions such as fatigue on well-being measures such as life satisfaction. However, no research examined the associations among nurses' fatigue, coping styles, and life satisfaction.

METHODS

The cross-sectional study was conducted in Liaoning Province, China. 482 effective questionnaires were collected (effective response rate of 80.3%). The questionnaire included Fatigue Scale-14, Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire and Satisfaction with Life Scale. The association among fatigue, coping styles and fatigue × coping styles interaction with life satisfaction was examined by hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The interaction was visualized by simple slope analysis.

RESULTS

Mean score of life satisfaction was 22.74 ± 6.11. Active coping moderated the relationship between mental fatigue and life satisfaction. The impacts of mental fatigue on life satisfaction gradually decreased in the low (1 SD below the mean, β=-0.400, P < 0.001), mean (β=-0.312, P < 0.001), and high (1 SD above the mean, β=-0.224, P < 0.001) groups of active coping.

CONCLUSION

The life satisfaction of Chinese nurses was relatively low. Active coping could alleviate the impact of mental fatigue on life satisfaction. Developing active coping styles might be a crucial strategy to alleviate nurses' mental fatigue and improve life satisfaction.

Coping and emotion regulation: A conceptual and measurement scoping review

The fields of coping and emotion regulation have mostly evolved separately over decades, although considerable overlap exists. Despite increasing efforts to unite them from a conceptual standpoint, it remains unclear whether conceptual similarities translate into their measurement. The main objective of this review was to summarize and compare self-reported measures of coping and emotion regulation strategies. The secondary objective was to examine whether other psychological measures (e.g., resilience) indirectly reflect regulatory strategies' effectiveness, thus representing additionally informative approaches. Results indicated substantial overlap between coping and emotion regulation measures. In both frameworks, two to eight individual strategies were usually captured, but only a third included ≤20 items. Most commonly evaluated strategies were reappraisal/reinterpretation, active coping/problem-solving, acceptance, avoidance, and suppression. Evidence also suggested psychological distress and well-being measures, especially in certain contexts like natural stress experiments, and resilience measures are possible indirect assessments of these regulatory strategies' effectiveness. These results are interpreted in the light of a broader, integrative affect regulation framework and a conceptual model connecting coping, emotion regulation, resilience, psychological well-being and psychological distress is introduced. We further discussed the importance of alignment between individuals, contexts, and strategies used, and provide directions for future research. Altogether, coping and emotion regulation measures meaningfully overlap. Joint consideration of both frameworks in future research would widen the repertoire of available measures and orient their selection based on other aspects like length or strategies covered, rather than the framework only.

Impact of prolonged social crisis on resilience and coping indicators

The current study examines, longitudinally, (i.e., on the same sample), to what extent an acute political/social crisis in Israel affected the resilience, distress, and additional psychological indicators of the Jewish population, along with three repeated measurements: The first was conducted shortly before the last elections (in October 2022), the second in February 2023, about two and a half months after the elections, following the formation of a right-wing government, and the third measurement about nine months after the election (August 7-10, 2023). The main results indicated the following: (a) the mean societal resilience among coalition voters increased significantly throughout the three measurements, while it declined significantly among opposition voters. (b) significant differences were identified between coalition and opposition voters, mostly at T2 and T3: opposition supporters reported significantly lower levels of societal resilience and hope, and higher levels of distress symptoms and sense of danger, compared to those of coalition supporters. We concluded that the continued social/political conflict in Israel is multidimensional and impacts diverse areas such as values, perspectives, and supporting as well as suppressing coping indicators. The differences between the two voter groups may be primarily the result of political radicalization and polarization processes, that aim to widen gaps to achieve political power. As many countries are currently facing acute political crises and similar radicalization, similar studies should be conducted in varied societies to investigate the generalizability of the findings.

The BigMove Intervention for People With Physical and Mental Health Conditions: A First Evaluation of Self-Perceived Health, Quality of Life, Coping and Mental and Social Functioning

Background

The BigMove intervention aims to improve the functioning and quality of life of people with physical and mental health conditions via an integrated care approach. This pilot study evaluates the impact of the intervention on self-perceived health (SPH), quality of life (QoL), active coping behaviour, and mental and social functioning.

Methods

Data were analysed from N = 457 participants who had been referred to the intervention by their general practitioner (mean age 48.98 years; 76% female). Three patient-reported and one clinician-rated measures were used: SPH, QoL (MANSA), active coping behaviour (UPCC-ACT), mental and social functioning (HoNOS). Pre- and post-intervention measurements (from 2011 to 2018) were compared using paired-samples t-tests. Due to missing data, analyses were conducted with 205-257 participants per completed outcome. Associations with age and sex were assessed using repeated-measures ANOVA. Clinically relevant change was evaluated with the Edwards-Nunnally index and standard error of measurement (SEM) scores.

Results

Post-intervention, there were statistically significant improvements for all outcomes (p < 0.0001) with moderate to large effect sizes (d = 0.41 to 1.02). The observed changes in outcomes can be considered as clinically relevant improvements.

Conclusion

This pilot study provides preliminary evidence that the intervention has positive effects on SPH, QoL, active coping behaviour, and mental and social functioning.

Coping strategies used by second-career student teachers

BACKGROUND

When second-career teachers (SCTs) learn to teach, they need to cope with the tension-evoking moments they encounter. Little is known about the coping strategies SCTs use to manage tensions.

AIM

The purpose of this study was to investigate the coping strategies SCTs use during the first 1.5 years of teacher training. The SCTs' own perceptions about the usefulness, evolution and specificity of these coping strategies were also studied.

SAMPLE

Twenty-four SCTs in the alternative teacher training programme (ATTP) at the University of Amsterdam participated in this study. These SCTs aspired to become teachers of mathematics, physics, economics, computer science or chemistry.

METHOD

For each participant, written logbook fragments and interviews were analysed in Atlas-ti.

RESULTS

The SCTs used in decreasing order: intrapersonal approaching (e.g., resolving problems autonomously), interpersonal approaching (e.g., consulting others) and intrapersonal avoiding strategies (e.g., ignoring an undesired situation). Interpersonal avoiding strategies were not mentioned at all. While the SCTs reported approaching strategies (inter- and intrapersonal) as being useful for their development, we also found disadvantages to intrapersonal approaching strategies and advantageous uses of avoiding strategies. The SCTs noted several inter- and intrapersonal approaching coping strategies that they considered typical for SCTs.

CONCLUSION

Intrapersonal approaching coping strategies can be a risk because of the invisibility of these strategies. Interpersonal strategies should be stimulated because SCTs benefit from the social network in school. Avoiding strategies may serve a purpose for managing the complexity of the teaching profession.

Coming back together: a qualitative survey study of coping and support strategies used by people to cope with extended difficulties after the use of psychedelic drugs

Introduction

A growing body of literature is investigating the difficulties that some individuals encounter after psychedelic experiences. Existing research has explored the nature and predictors of these difficulties; however, a research gap exists in understanding how individuals endeavour to cope with such difficulties.

Methods

The current study collected data from an international cohort of 608 participants who reported experiencing difficulties that persisted for at least one day after a psychedelic experience. They provided written data on how they used coping strategies to alleviate these difficulties. The qualitative analysis of the written data on coping was conducted using Structured Tabular Thematic Analysis.

Results

A wide range of individual and social coping strategies were employed that were found helpful. The most common individual strategies were meditation and prayer, followed by self-educational activities such as reading and journaling. The most prevalent forms of social coping involved seeking support from friends or family members, followed by obtaining assistance from a therapist or coach. Features of social coping that were reported to be helpful included feeling heard/accepted, a non-judgemental attitude and sharing similar experiences.

Discussion

Our findings hold potential for informing the design of therapeutic interventions and educational resources aimed at enhancing positive outcomes for those experiencing extended difficulties after psychedelic use.

Effectiveness of Problem-Solving Therapy in Improving Patient Mental Health, Function, Quality of Life, and Mortality Post-Stroke: A Systematic Review

Problem-solving therapy (PST) is a potential psychological intervention aimed at preventing and treating psychological issues in stroke patients, although its efficacy is not clearly established. This systematic review assessed the effectiveness of PST in improving mental health, functioning, quality of life, and mortality in this population. Six databases were searched for literature indexed through March 2024, including the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, NeuroBITE, and OTseeker. This review (CRD42023483757) followed the PRISMA guidelines and the Cochrane Library Handbook, utilizing the RoB 2 tool and GRADE system to assess the quality of the evidence. It included eight randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 1249 patients with stroke. Among them, five RCTs showed that PST might improve depression. Additionally, individual RCTs demonstrated the efficacy of PST in addressing patient anxiety, apathy, and coping. With respect to mental health, PST might affect patient quality of life and mortality. However, the results of four RCTs demonstrated no effect of PST on patient functioning. The quality of evidence for the outcomes ranged from very low to high. PST may improve mental health, quality of life, and mortality in patients with stroke.

Prior resilience to trauma & coping during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

This study examined the potential influence of pre-pandemic psychological resilience on use of approach or avoidant coping styles and strategies to manage stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesized that higher resilience would be associated with more approach coping and less avoidant coping.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Longitudinal cohort data were from the Nurses' Health Study II, including 13,143 female current and former healthcare professionals with pre-pandemic lifetime trauma. Pre-pandemic resilience was assessed between 2018-2019 and current coping during the outbreak of the pandemic in the United States (May-August 2020). Multiple linear regression model results identified associations between continuous pre-pandemic resilience scores and use of approach and avoidant coping styles, as well as individual coping strategies, adjusting for relevant covariates.

RESULTS

Greater resilience was associated with higher use of approach coping (ß = 0.06, 95% CI 0.05, 0.08) and lower use of avoidant coping styles (ß = -0.39, 95% CI -0.41, -0.38). Higher pre-pandemic resilience was also associated with use of eight (distraction [ß = -0.18, 95% CI -0.20, -0.16], substance use [ß = -0.15, 95% CI -0.17, -0.13], behavioral disengagement [ß = -0.29, 95% CI -0.30, -0.27], self-blame [ß = -0.44, 95% CI -0.45, -0.42], emotional support (ß = 0.03, 95% CI 0.01, 0.05), positive reframing [ß = 0.13, 95% CI 0.12, 0.15], humor [ß = 0.03, 95% CI 0.01, 0.05] and religion [ß = 0.06, 95% CI 0.04, 0.08]) of the nine coping strategies in expected directions.

CONCLUSION

Findings have important implications for intervention or even prevention efforts to support vulnerable groups, such as women with prior trauma histories, during this and other immensely stressful times. Supporting or building psychological resilience following trauma may promote effective coping in times of future stress.

Coping and anxiety symptoms in family carers of dependent older people: Mediation and moderation effects of subjective caregiver burden

INTRODUCTION

Coping responses influence anxiety symptoms experienced by informal carers. However, only a few studies have investigated the longitudinal association between coping responses and anxiety symptoms in family carers. We also currently have limited knowledge on the mediating or moderating influence of subjective caregiver burden on this relationship over time. The aim of the present study was to investigate the longitudinal relationship between coping and anxiety symptoms in family carers of dependent older people, and examine the mediating or moderating role of subjective caregiver burden over time.

DESIGN

Prospective longitudinal study.

METHODS

We recruited and enrolled participants from a probability sample of 132 family carers of older dependent relatives. We measured coping strategies, anxiety symptoms, subjective caregiver burden, and several covariates (sex and intensity of care) at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. We used generalized estimating equations with multiple imputations to examine associations over time.

RESULTS

Considering both direct and indirect effects through subjective burden, anxiety symptoms were positively associated with proactive coping (B = 0.13), planning (B = 0.15), self-distraction (B = 0.24), denial (B = 1.15), venting (B = 0.94) and self-blame (B = 0.90), and negatively associated with positive reframing (B = -0.83) and acceptance (B = -0.75). Subjective caregiver burden moderated the relationship between anxiety symptoms and planning, and the use of denial as a form of coping.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results show that subjective caregiver burden is an important moderator and mediator of the longitudinal association between coping responses and anxiety symptoms in carers.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Proactive coping and planning when subjective burden is low, self-distraction, denial, venting, and self-blame significantly increase levels of anxiety and caregiver burden in carers over time. Acceptance and positive reframing however as coping responses are associated with lower levels of anxiety and caregiver burden long-term. Our findings highlight the need for a multi-dimensional approach in future caregiving interventions.

Smart Speaker and ICT Use in Relationship With Social Connectedness During the Pandemic: Loneliness and Social Isolation Found in Older Adults in Low-Income Housing

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Social well-being of older adults living in low-income housing was disproportionately affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. We explored low-income residents' experiences of social isolation and loneliness and strategies to remain socially connected during the pandemic.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

As part of a larger, 3-phase user-centered design study, we conducted a qualitative study using focus groups to gain insights into social isolation experiences and the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs), including smart speakers, in social connectedness (N = 25, 76% African American). We also collected survey data to describe social isolation, loneliness, and current ICT use in the sample. Participants included both smart speaker users and nonusers.

RESULTS

Experiences of social isolation and loneliness varied by participants' sociodemographic characteristics and previous experiences with smart speakers. Qualitative analysis showed participants demonstrated coping strategies developed during the pandemic to adapt to new norms of connecting with others, including technology-enabled social interactions. Participants expressed a strong desire to build community together in their facilities and highlighted the potential role of smart speakers in making meaningful social connections, encompassing safety checks to have a means for emergencies, and providing a virtual companion. Access, digital literacy, training, security, and privacy issues were discussed as factors affecting their adoption of new ICT for enhanced social connectedness.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study highlights the importance of understanding the unique social isolation experience, demographics, and social determinants of health of low-income residents to develop ICT-based interventions for social connectedness.

Physical activity and school adaptation among Chinese junior high school students: chain mediation of resilience and coping styles

Background

As a crucial juncture in students' educational journey, junior high school presents challenges that profoundly influence well-being and academic performance. Physical activity emerges as a pivotal factor shaping the holistic development of junior high school students. Beyond its recognized impact on physical and mental health, engaging in regular physical activity proves effective in augmenting students' adaptability to school life. Despite its importance, the mechanisms through which physical activity influences school adaptation in junior high school students remain understudied in academic research.

Objective

In exploring the potential mechanisms, this study aims to validate the mediating roles of resilience and coping styles by examining the association between physical activity and school adaptation among junior high school students.

Methods

This study employed cross-sectional survey approach among junior high school students in China. Through the convenience sampling, 1,488 participants aged from 12 to 16 years old (Average age = 13.59, SD = 1.017) from two Junior high schools in Changsha City, Hunan Province were recruited to complete the Physical Activity Scale, School Adaptation Questionnaire for Junior High School Students, Resilience Scale for Adolescents, and Simple Coping Styles Questionnaire. For data analysis, the SPSS 26.0 and Amos 26.0 were used for statistical processing.

Results

The results showed that physical activity exhibited a significant correlation with school adaptation (r = 0.656, p < 0.001). Resilience, positive coping style and negative coping style played partial mediating roles between physical activity and school adaptation, with the effect size were 0.229, 0.170, 0.171. The chain mediation effect size of resilience and positive coping style was 0.042, while the chain mediation effect size of resilience and negative coping style was 0.050.

Conclusion

Physical activity positively predicts Chinese junior high school students' school adaptation through resilience and coping styles, suggesting that junior high school students should engage in regular physical activity, so as to improve their resilience and positive coping styles, mitigating negative coping styles, thus promoting their school adaptation.

Brief Coping Scale TCS-9: Optimising the Assessment of Coping Strategies. The case of Health Care Workers

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the focus on mental health, particularly on the coping strategies of healthcare workers who have faced unparalleled stress due to their pivotal role in addressing health disparities and determinants of health. Constantly operating in high-risk environments and managing the surge of critically ill patients, these professionals' psychological resilience has been sternly tested, necessitating robust assessment tools.

Aim

This study aims to refine the extensive 54-item Toulouse Coping Scale into a more pragmatic and less time-consuming instrument while preserving its statistical integrity, to support the mental well-being of healthcare workers.

Setting

The setting for this study was amongst healthcare workers in Greece, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period marked by significant psychological demands on medical staff.

Methods

We conducted an unbiased exploratory factor analysis on the Toulouse Coping Scale's 54 items, drawing from a sample of 144 healthcare workers, adhering to strict methodological criteria.

Results

Data completeness was achieved across the sample, which comprised 40 (28%) males and 104 (72%) females, predominantly aged between 31 and 50 years. The final instrument, encapsulating two domains with a total of nine questions, demonstrated strong internal consistency, with an eigenvalue of 3.438 for the first domain and 1.478 for the second, validated by a scree plot.

Conclusion

The streamlined TCS-9 scale facilitates a more rapid assessment of coping strategies while reducing redundancy. The two-domain structure ensures that the revised scale retains the original's thoroughness in a more concise form.

Contribution

By enabling quicker and more efficient evaluations, the TCS-9 enhances the practicality of assessing coping mechanisms in healthcare settings, thereby contributing to the sustenance of health systems and the promotion of health equity.

Burden, coping and resilience among caregivers for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: An integrative review

AIM

This study aims to synthesise quantitative and qualitative evidence to comprehensively examine the burden of family caregivers of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients and to understand their coping strategies and related resilience factors.

BACKGROUND

Long-term chronic obstructive pulmonary disease care causes heavy psychological and physical burden to caregivers, which is related to the coping strategies used. Resilience is a protective factor originating within the individual and has become a concept related to illness, health and care.

DESIGN

An integrative review.

METHODS

Relevant literature was comprehensively searched from China Biology Medicine, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wan Fang, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Ovid databases from the establishment of the database till January 2023, and the quality of the selected articles was evaluated. Reporting was done according to a PRISMA checklist.

FINDINGS

The burden of family caregivers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease includes poor health, worry and fear, anticipatory loss and uncertainty, relationship tensions and disagreements, loss of identity and social isolation, lack of supportive knowledge and financial burden. Family caregivers used problem-centred coping, emotion-centred coping, avoidance coping, social support and dyadic coping with their patients to manage their burdens. The factors chronic obstructive pulmonary disease associated with a caregiver's resilience included a higher level of knowledge, social and familial support, a close relationship with patients, a caregiver's sense of responsibility, the patient's high self-efficacy, etc. CONCLUSIONS: The findings show that caregivers of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients face multiple burdens, adapt through different coping styles and have different psychological consequences, while coping style and mental health status also affect the magnitude of burden.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND PATIENT CARE

The findings informed health professionals about personalised chronic obstructive pulmonary disease home care interventions to reduce caregiver burden, effectively manage illness and maintain family intimacy.

NO PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

No patients, families, service providers or members of the public were involved in this study.

Psychological well-being of healthcare workers during COVID-19 in a mental health institution

INTRODUCTION

This study examined the psychological wellbeing of Healthcare Workers (HCWs) during COVID-19 in a mental health setting, associations of psychosocial wellbeing with coping style, and ways that organisations can mitigate the psychosocial burden on HCWs.

METHODS

Thirty-seven Mental HCWs (MHCWs) from infected and non-infected wards (control group), were recruited and assessed at three timepoints. Psychological wellbeing, perceived cohesion, and coping style (Brief-COPE) were assessed. Reports on individual coping and feedback on the organisation were collected through in-depth interview. Comparison between infected and non-infected wards, as well as comparison of psychosocial measures and perceived cohesion, across the three timepoints were made. As there were no significant changes in coping styles across the timepoints, Timepoint 1 (T1) coping style was used to correlate with the psychosocial measures across all timepoints. Thematic analysis was used for qualitative data.

RESULTS

MHCWs from infected wards reported significantly higher levels of stress, χ2(1) = 6.74, p = 0.009, effect size: medium (ε2 = 0.198), and more severe sleep disturbance (PSQI), χ2(1) = 6.20, p = 0.013, effect size: medium (ε2 = 0.182), as compared to the control group at T2. They also engaged in more problem-focused coping (T2 and T3) and emotion-focused coping (T2). As expected, negative coping style was correlated with negative outcomes except problem-focused coping that was correlated with both negative (sleep disturbance and anxiety symptoms) and positive outcomes (wellbeing). Emotion-focused coping was moderately correlated (Tb = 0.348, p<0.017) with higher levels of wellbeing at T2. Thematic analyses revealed MHCWs felt supported by the responsiveness of the institution, emotional and informational support, and the availability from direct leaders, presence of team and hospital leaders on the ground, helped build trust and confidence in the leadership.

CONCLUSIONS

MHCWs experienced significantly higher levels of stress and sleep disturbance during COVID-19. The ways that organizations can offset the psychological burden of pandemics on MHCWs are discussed.

Patient activation and psychological coping strategies to manage challenging circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic in people with kidney disease

BACKGROUND

Coping with health problems requires some degree of self-management; however, an individual's ability to self-manage can be threatened during challenging times, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Exploring differences and changes in psychological well-being and coping strategies between those with low and high patient activation may inform appropriate interventions to support psychological coping.

METHODS

People with chronic kidney disease (CKD) (non-dialysis and transplant) were recruited from 11 hospital sites across England between August and December 2020. Participants responded to an online survey study, including the Brief Coping Orientation to Problem Experienced (COPE) Inventory, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), Short Health Anxiety Index (SHAI), and Patient Activation Measure (PAM-13). A follow-up survey was conducted 6-9 months later. Paired t tests assessed within-group changes, and chi-squared tests compared coping strategies utilised by low- and high-activated participants. General linear modelling was performed to determine the relationship between patient activation and coping strategies, and covariates.

RESULTS

Two hundred and fourteen participants were recruited (mean age: 60.7, 51% male, mean eGFR: 38.9 ml/min/1.73 m2). Low-activated participants were significantly more anxious than high-activated participants (P = 0.045). Health anxiety significantly decreased (i.e., got better) for high-activated participants (P = 0.016). Higher patient activation scores were associated with greater use of problem-focused strategies (β = 0.288, P < 0.001). Age (β = - 0.174, P = 0.012), sex (β = 0.188, P = 0.004), and education level (β = 0.159, P = 0.019) significantly predicted use of problem-focused strategies.

DISCUSSION

Those with higher activation had lower levels of anxiety, and more frequently used adaptive coping strategies during the pandemic. Targeted support and interventions may be required for people with CKD to enhance patient activation, encourage more positive adaptive coping strategies, and mitigate maladaptive coping strategies.

Psychological distress and self-reported mental disorders: the partially mediating role of coping strategies

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Accumulating evidence suggests a substantial prevalence of mental health disorders worldwide and the association between psychological distress and mental disorders. However, the mechanisms underlying this association are underexplored. Using longitudinal data, this study examined coping strategies as a potential mechanism.

METHODS

Participants (N = 2,333) from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) completed psychosocial and mental health surveys over 19 years. A parallel mediation model was used to test the direct association between psychological distress (baseline) and self-reported mental disorders (17-19 years follow-up) and the indirect associations via coping strategies (8-11 years follow-up), controlling for demographics and baseline self-reported mental disorders.

RESULTS

Psychological distress predicted an increased likelihood of mental disorders later in life. Emotion-focused coping was a significant mediator of this association, but problem-focused coping was not. Psychological distress was positively associated with emotion-focused coping, and emotion-focused coping was positively associated with mental disorders. Psychological distress was negatively associated with problem-focused coping; however, no association was found between problem-focused coping and mental disorders.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings provide further support for the longitudinal association between psychological distress and mental health disorders and extend prior research by showing the partial mediating role of emotion-focused coping in this association.

Comparative Study of the Quality of Life and Coping Strategies in Oncology Patients

BACKGROUND

Despite the current data on morbidity and mortality, a growing number of patients with a diagnosis of cancer survive due to an early diagnosis and advances in treatment modalities. This study aimed to compare the quality of life and coping strategies in three groups of patients with cancer and identify associated clinical and sociodemographic characteristics.

METHODS

A comparative study was conducted with outpatients at a public hospital in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The 300 participants were assigned to three groups: patients in palliative care (Group A), patients in post-treatment follow-up with no evidence of disease (Group B), and patients undergoing treatment for cancer (Group C). Data collection involved the use of the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire. No generic quality-of-life assessment tool was utilized, as it would not be able to appropriately evaluate the impact of the disease on the specific group of patients receiving palliative care.

RESULTS

Coping strategies were underused. Participants in the palliative care group had poorer quality of life, particularly in the psychological well-being and physical symptom domains. Age, currently undergoing treatment, and level of education were significantly associated with coping scores. Age, gender, income, and the absence of pharmacological pain control were independently associated with quality-of-life scores. Moreover, a positive association was found between coping and quality of life.

CONCLUSION

Cancer patients in palliative care generally report a lower quality of life. However, male patients, those who did not rely on pharmacological pain control, and those with higher coping scores reported a better perception of their quality of life. This perception tended to decrease with age and income level. Patients currently undergoing treatment for the disease were more likely to use coping strategies. Patients with higher education and quality-of-life scores also had better coping scores. However, the use of coping strategies decreased with age.

Coping Strategies and Their Relationship With Subjective Distress due to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil

OBJECTIVES

To identify the strategies used by Brazilian adults for coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and to verify the effect of these strategies on subjective distress.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional observational study with online data collection in May/June 2020, November/December 2020, and May/June 2021. The BriefCOPE Inventory and the Impact of Event Scale (IES-R) were used. The prevalence of strategies used at different time points was estimated with a 95% confidence interval and compared with a z-test. A multiple logistic regression model was constructed and the odds ratio (OR, 95%CI) was calculated to verify the probability of subjective distress according to the coping strategy used.

RESULTS

Younger individuals had a lower prevalence of adaptive strategies, which increased significantly with age. Participants with higher income levels had a higher prevalence of adaptive strategies, as did those who were never diagnosed with a mental health disorder. The prevalence of using only maladaptive strategies ranged from 6.1% to 5.4% (p > 0.05). The use of problem-centered strategies (Active Coping and Planning), venting of emotions, and substance use increased with time, while acceptance and behavioral disengagement decreased. In general, the population used problem-centered strategies, but the high prevalence of problem avoidance was striking. Positive reinterpretation and acceptance were protective factors for subjective distress, whereas maladaptive strategies increased the chance of distress. The presence of a negative valence component (problem- or emotion-centered) increased the chance of subjective distress, whereas strategies based on Problem Solving acted as a protective factor.

CONCLUSION

Coping strategies were significantly associated to subjective distress and have changed since the beginning of the pandemic. Strategies focused on emotion regulation may be relevant to minimize distress.

The influence of meaningful work on the mental health of SME employees in the COVID-19 era: can coping strategies mediate the relationship?

BACKGROUND

Stress, depression, and anxiety are prevalent issues among SME employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even while having meaningful work that expressively contributes to individual growth has been related to improving mental health, employees' work may also need to adopt coping strategies to increase outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between meaningful work (positive meaning, meaning-making, and greater good motivations) and mental health, as well as coping strategies (problem-focused and emotion-focused) as a mediator of this relationship.

METHODS

Meaningful work, coping strategies, and mental health were evaluated in empirical research based on a sample of 462 SME employees working in Malaysia. Structured questionnaires were used to collect the data and analyze it through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using AMOS 21.0.

RESULTS

The findings of the study show the importance of meaningful work in influencing the mental health of SME employees, particularly during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. This suggests that the more they value and see their work as meaningful, the more capable they are of dealing with limitations and mental health problems associated with crises. The study also discovered a partial mediating role for coping strategies between employees' mental health and meaningful work.

CONCLUSION

This study encourages employees to constantly feel connected and discover continued possibilities to work and learn even during crisis situations. In order to improve human resource efficiency in emerging markets, managers and owners of SMEs must implement the model developed by the researchers.

Qualitative inquiry into the experience of suicide loss, aftereffects and coping strategies of suicide-bereaved Greek-speaking parents in Cyprus

PURPOSE

Studies on suicide-bereaved parents are scarce in South European and Eastern Mediterranean countries. We explored the experiences of Greek-speaking suicide-bereaved parents in Cyprus, with emphasis on the interpretations of their child's suicide, its aftereffects and their coping strategies.

METHODS

A qualitative methodology based on inductive content analysis of the interviews of ten mothers and two fathers was applied.

RESULTS

The participants described their efforts to make sense of the senseless, reporting numerous interpretations of their child's suicide. Some participants had achieved to move on by trying to keep the remaining family together. Others felt detached from their social network. The different coping strategies and support systems described, reflected participants' efforts to escape from obsessive, enduring and deeply traumatizing thoughts about their child's suicide. The analysis mirrored participants' ultimate desire to find existential relief and serenity through the management of distressing reminders of their child's suicide, and alleviate the burden of their own negative self-judgement and the criticism of others. They sought physical and emotional comfort in the inner realm of their psyche, through spiritual and psychological coping processes.

CONCLUSION

Further exploration is suggested about intervention planning aiming to strengthen effective coping strategies and external supportive resources in mourning parents.

Smoked tobacco dependence and its correlates among participants attending life skills training and counselling services programme across Karnataka (2017-2022)

Introduction

Indian National Mental Health Survey reports an alarming prevalence of 20.9% for tobacco dependence in India. Dependence on smoked tobacco can be prevented by thorough knowledge of the risk factors associated with it.

Objectives

To estimate the prevalence and identify the factors associated with smoked tobacco dependence among participants attending the life skills training and counselling services programme (LSTCSP) across Karnataka from 2017 to 2022.

Materials and Methods

Pretraining data of 3104 participants from training programmes between 2017 and 2022 were utilised. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed based on a conceptual framework with various hypothesised exposure variables and smoked tobacco dependence as outcome.

Results

The overall prevalence of smoked tobacco dependence among LSTCSP participants who used smoked tobacco products was 59.4%. Ever use of smokeless tobacco products (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) =2.05, 95% CI: 1.11-3.78) and screening positive for symptoms of generalised anxiety (AOR = 2.53, 95% CI: 1.32-4.84) significantly increased the odds of smoked tobacco dependence, whereas making decisions collectively in the family (AOR = 0.35, 95% CI: 0.18-0.66) and individuals with increased score for neurotic personality traits (AOR = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.44-0.93) were the factors associated with reduced odds of smoked tobacco dependence.

Conclusion

The identified risk factors associated with smoked tobacco dependence are important to develop tobacco control programmes as well as in preventing its onset. With the risk factors for smoked tobacco dependence identified, the results of this study have implications for health promotion and prevention programmes as well as cessation programmes related to smoked tobacco dependence, within India and similar countries.

Perceived professional benefits and their associated factors among Chinese registered nurses caring for women diagnosed with gynecological cancer

PROPOSE

Registered nurses (RNs) are considered to be a major source of professional supportive care for women diagnosed with gynecological cancer (GC). This study described the level of perceived professional benefits and explored association between perceived professional benefits, sense of coherence (SOC), and coping strategies in Chinese RNs caring for women diagnosed with GC.

METHOD

A cross-sectional survey was employed to collect data using the Nurses' Perceived Professional Benefits Questionnaire (NPPBQ), Sense of coherence scale (SOC-13), and Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (Brief COPE). The questionnaires were administered to 250 RNs in China. The correlations between NPPBQ, SOC-13, and Brief COPE were evaluated with Pearson's correlation coefficient. Multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the relative contribution of each possible factor in explaining variance in the increased NPPBQ.

RESULTS

The total score for the NPPBQ was 142.4 (range 33.0-165.0). SOC, dysfunctional coping strategies, and problem-focused coping strategies were recognized as predictors of RNs' perceived professional benefit, while, emotion-focused coping strategies were not significantly associated with RNs' perceived professional benefits.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicate that RNs who have high levels of SOC, dysfunctional coping strategies, and problem-focused coping strategies tend to experience more perceived professional benefit. These findings propose new perspectives for nursing managers to promote RNs' perceived professional benefit by helping RNs to find meaningfulness when caring for women diagnosed with GC, increasing RNs' communication skills to improve their relationship with patients, and training RNs to use coping strategies effectively.

Coping strategies employed by public psychiatric healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in southern Gauteng, South Africa

Within the context of the novel coronavirus pandemic and new challenges to a resource-constrained public healthcare system, many healthcare workers in South Africa have faced numerous stressors that have compromised their mental health. While the current literature on COVID-19 in South Africa highlights the widespread psychosocial stress experienced by healthcare workers during the pandemic, little is known about the coping strategies utilized to continue service delivery and maintain one's mental health and well-being during this ongoing public health emergency. In this study, we sought to explore the coping strategies used by healthcare workers employed in the public psychiatric care system in southern Gauteng, South Africa during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Psychiatric healthcare workers (n = 55) employed in three tertiary public hospitals and two specialized psychiatric facilities participated in in-depth interviews between July 2020 and March 2021. We found that coping strategies spanned multi-level and multi-systemic efforts. Intrapersonal, interpersonal, material, and structural coping were mapped across individual, family, and hospital systems. The most commonly utilized coping strategies included positive mindsets and reappraisal, social support systems, and COVID-19 specific protections. Findings also highlighted the contextual and interconnected nature of coping. Healthcare workers applied multiple coping strategies to combat the negative mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Better understanding these strategies, contexts in which they are employed, and how they interact can be used to develop evidence-based interventions to support healthcare workers experiencing healthcare-related stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Climate anxiety, coping strategies and planning for the future in environmental degree students in the UK

Introduction

There is increasing recognition of the mental health burden of climate change and the effects on general well-being, even in those who have not (yet) experienced direct impacts. Climate anxiety, which is prominent among young people in particular, describes a state of heightened distress about the (future) effects of climate change. Despite evidence of a link between engagement in climate change issues and heightened climate anxiety, there is a dearth of knowledge on how this affects emerging professionals preparing for careers in the environmental sector. Furthermore, there is a paucity of literature regarding the extent to which young adults are coping with their thoughts and feelings about climate change, and the extent to which they consider climate change in making future plans.

Methods

The aim of this study was to understand the occurrence and personal management of climate anxiety in UK university students through an online questionnaire. This study was the first to investigate the association between climate anxiety, coping strategies and future planning in university students.

Results and discussion

Environmental degree students (n = 249) reported greater levels of climate anxiety, more frequent employment of all three examined coping strategies and in particular considered climate change as a factor in their career plans, as compared to their non-environmental degree counterparts (n = 224). Problem-focused coping was the most commonly endorsed strategy, although the prior literature on coping suggests that this may not be sustainable for individually intractable problems. Highly climate-anxious students were more likely to consider climate change in all five decision-making domains, including family planning, long-term habitation, career, financial and travel decisions. This study has identified a need to communicate effective climate anxiety coping strategies to environmental practitioners, university students and educators. Additional research is required to validate the study findings and investigate what motivates students to incorporate climate change into future plans.

Association Between Family Support and Coping Strategies of People With Covid-19: A Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose

The study aimed to determine the association between family support and coping strategies of people diagnosed with COVID-19.

Methods

The study was analytical and cross-sectional. The sample consisted of 500 participants who were selected by non-probabilistic and snowball sampling and included residents of both sexes who belonged to the city of Lima, with a diagnosis of COVID-19, who lived with relatives, and who accepted to participate in the research. For data collection, the scales "family support" and "Coping and Adaptation Process-Coping Adaptation Processing Scale (CAPS)" were used. The technique used was the survey through the home visit and the questionnaire instrument. To measure the relationship of the study variables, binary logistic regression was chosen, considering coping strategies as the dependent variable and socio-demographic data and family support as independent variables.

Results

Of the 500 participants, 50.4% were women, and 49.6% were men. The results revealed that most participants presented a high capacity for coping strategies and high perceived family support (97.2% and 81%, respectively). In the bivariate analysis, socio-demographic aspects and family support and their dimensions were related to high or low capacity for coping strategies. Significant differences were verified between marital status (p=0.026), having children (p=0.037), family support (p=0.000), and its dimensions with coping strategies. Finally, the multivariate analysis found that people with COVID-19 who perceived high family support were 33.74 times (95% CI: 7266-156,739) more likely to have a high capacity for coping strategies.

Conclusion

Therefore, it is necessary to promote the development of parental and family support skills in the face of the health emergency caused by COVID-19.

Anxiety and depressive symptoms among migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway: A two-wave longitudinal study

This study was designed to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of migrants living in Norway. We conducted a longitudinal two-waves survey among a sample of 574 migrants and multilevel modelling was used to analyse anxiety, health anxiety and depressive symptoms. Demographic and psychological predictors were investigated. The levels of anxiety, health anxiety and depressive symptoms among migrants decreased from the lockdown (strict social distancing protocols) to phaseout. Reductions in maladaptive coping strategies were related to parallel reductions in anxiety, health anxiety, and depression, and a reduction in loneliness was related to a reduction in depression. The results indicate that the elevated levels of anxiety, health anxiety and depressive symptoms among migrants in the first phase of the pandemic may be temporary.

College Graduates' Negative Life Experiences, Coping Strategies and Enlightenment During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study in China

Objective

The current study aimed to explore comprehensively college graduates' negative life experiences, coping strategies, and enlightenment in a qualitative way.

Methods

This was a qualitative study. Purposeful sampling was used to select 31 college graduates majoring in various subjects from a Chinese University. The one-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted online through Tencent QQ/WeChat and were recorded and transcribed verbatim. A phenomenological approach was used to guide this research in the data collection and analysis. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes across interviews around their negative life experiences, coping strategies, and enlightenment.

Results

College graduates' negative life experiences were mainly focused on three aspects: negative work experience (eg, lack of adaptation, busy schedule, low salary), negative personal life experience (eg, multiple pressure, psychological problems, the hardship of life), and negative social life experience (eg, the incomprehension of those around you, complex interpersonal relationship, social complexity). The coping strategies they used can be classified into two categories: emotion-focused strategies (eg, accepting reality, self-persuasion, keeping a positive attitude), and problem-focused strategies (eg, goal-setting, asking for help to solve the problem, persistence). As for life enlightenment, six themes emerged: accept life, strive to life, love life, cherish life, recognize life, and learn to live.

Conclusion

College graduates' negative experiences came from multiple levels, and they use multiple coping strategies to deal with the challenges. Our results provide important guidance for researchers and policymakers to design effective and targeted intervention programs to improve college graduates' coping abilities in response to negative life experiences and help them better transition from school to work. Specifically, future research and intervention to promote college graduates' mental health should target various social-ecological levels, focus on promoting coping from an ecological perspective, as well as facilitate post-traumatic growth to help them grow from negative life experiences and cope positively.

Coping Mechanisms during the War in Ukraine: A Cross-Sectional Assessment among Romanian Population

On 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine, starting a military conflict that soon turned into a full-scale war. The Romanians have been actively involved in helping their neighbors, causing the accumulation of emotional and mental pressure upon the Romanian population exposed to such a close military conflict. This cross-sectional study assessed, through an online survey (1586 adult Romanian residents), the primary coping mechanisms, quality of life and anxiety levels in response to the psychological trauma associated with the Russo-Ukrainian war. Based on the results, focusing on and venting emotions along with behavioral disengagement were the coping strategies that had the strongest negative impact on anxiety and well-being. On the other hand, positive reinterpretation and growth were associated with less anxiety, a higher degree of overall health and better quality of life. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to be performed among the Romanian population so far. Thus, we equip mental health practitioners with the tools (real-life evidence data) that will allow them to establish a more meaningful doctor-patient relationship, maximizing therapy results.

Forced social isolation and lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic: depression, anxiety, trauma-distress and coping mechanisms of a Greek sample

Aim

The COVID-19 outbreak escalated into a global pandemic, pushing many governments around the world to impose measures affecting all aspects of life. Similar to other countries, Greece adopted social restriction, lockdowns, and quarantines to reduce transmission from person-to-person. This cross-sectional study investigated the association between social restriction measures, an mental health and coping strategies employed by a Greek adult sample.

Subject and methods

An online questionnaire was used to collect data during the second national lockdown (February to May 2021). A total of 650 participants (M age 33.13, 71.5% female) comprised the final sample.

Results

The results show 21.3% of respondents reported moderate-to-extremely severe anxiety, 33% moderate-to-extremely severe depression, 31.8% moderate-to-severe stress, and 38% clinically significant trauma-related distress. Hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed that the strongest contributors to adverse mental health outcomes were being female, of younger age, experiencing increases in verbal arguments at home, being separated from family and close friends, and being unable to afford enough or healthy food. Lastly, participants reported moving away from social support and into more individual strength and resilience-based coping strategies to cope with challenges.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that in addition to the detrimental effects on physical health, social restriction measures related to COVID-19 also imposed a heavy psychological burden on the population via forced social isolation, which, by design, increased not only physical distancing but also psychological distancing between people.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10389-023-01907-3.

Mediating role of coping styles on the relationship between personality types and mental disorders in cardiovascular patients: a cross-sectional study in Iran

BACKGROUND

Many mental problems lead to the occurrence of physical diseases, causing worse consequences of diseases. Despite many studies in the field of personality types and types of mental disorders, this relationship and the mediating role of coping styles in cardiovascular patients are still not well known. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the mediating role of coping styles in the relationship between personality types and mental disorders in cardiovascular patients.

METHOD

The present study is a cross-sectional study that was conducted on 114 cardiovascular patients at the heart center in Bushehr, Iran. The sampling method is simple random sampling. Demographic information form, MCMI-III questionnaire, NEO-FFI questionnaire, and Lazarus and Folkman coping styles questionnaire were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22 and Amos 24 software. Descriptive statistics methods (mean, variance and percentage), Pearson correlation, and structural equation model (SEM) were applied to analyze the data.

RESULTS

The findings showed that the two variables of personality types and problem-oriented explain 15.2% of the variable of mental disorders, of which 10.7% is related to the variable of personality types and 4.5% is related to the intermediate variable of problem-oriented. Among the personality types, the neurotic personality type has the biggest role (0.632) and has a direct and significant effect on mental disorders. Also, the personality types of extroversion (-0.460), agreeableness (-0.312), and responsibility (-0.986) exert inverse and significant effects on mental disorders.

CONCLUSION

The results of the present study showed the frequency of personality disorders and other mental disorders among heart patients. Problem-oriented coping style plays a mediating role between personality types and mental disorders.

Daily Associations Between Trauma-Related Mental Contamination and Use of Specific Coping Strategies: Results of a Daily Monitoring Study

Mental contamination (MC)-a sense of dirtiness experienced without contacting an identifiable pollutant-is a distressing and enduring experience among many survivors of sexual trauma. MC has been linked to more frequent use of avoidant coping behaviors (e.g., washing behavior, substance use, binge eating) and approach coping. However, it is unclear if specific approach and avoidant coping strategies are more consistently related to perseverative experiences of trauma-related MC, if the use of certain strategies predicts changes in MC, and if fluctuations in MC predict the use of certain strategies. The present study evaluated contemporaneous and prospective relationships between sexual trauma-related MC and use of 11 specific coping strategies among 41 women with a history of sexual trauma using an experience sampling design. Women completed twice-daily assessments of coping strategy use and MC for 14 days. Between-persons, women reporting more intense MC on average reported more frequent use of distraction, denial, giving up, self-blame, thought suppression, washing behavior, emotional processing, and emotional expression than those experiencing less intense MC. Within-person increases in MC were associated with more frequent concurrent use of all coping strategies except seeking support. Lastly, within-person increases in MC predicted more frequent use of giving up, substance use, and seeking support at the next assessment and within-person increases in substance use predicted less severe MC at the next assessment. Future work should aim to identify factors influencing the selection and/or quality of use of these specific coping strategies among individuals experiencing MC.

The influence of high-quality workplace relational systems and mindfulness on employee work engagement at the time of crises

Workplace relational systems move the organizational processes therefore, the influence on employee work behavior is inevitable. Drawing on the relational systems and broaden & build theory, this study aimed to examine the impact of high-quality workplace relational systems and trait of mindfulness on employee work engagement. This study also posits that psychological capital mediates this relationship and negative affectivity plays a moderating role. Data was collected from 331 employees associated with the public and private sectors. PLS-SEM, Higher Component Modeling technique employed to analyze the data. Results showed a positive association between high-quality workplace relational systems and mindfulness with employee work engagement. Data also support the mediating role of psychological capital. This study contributes to understanding the internal mechanism of how workplace relational systems and mindfulness affect work engagement through mediating effect of psychological capital. The findings of this study showed that high-quality workplace relational systems and mindfulness are workplace factors that induce employees' work engagement. The present study advances the knowledge on the flourishment of the work environment. The findings of this study also contribute to further focusing research on the relational work environment in its response to employee behavioral dimension.

The regional evolution of job insecurity during the first COVID-19 wave in relation to the pandemic intensity

As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the European continent at the beginning of 2020, one of the most significant socio-economic effects that immediately become the central focus of media and governing bodies was the unemployment and the sudden transformations suffered by the job market. This effect created major concerns for citizens and governing structures, as the pandemic generated a new and unparalleled economic context, where the short and medium-term future of several sectors seemed unpredictable. The concern acted upon the job insecurity of individuals, a perceived threat to the continuity and stability of their employment. Based on a self-reported survey covering the first pandemic wave, our study classifies the regions (NUTS2 level) from six EU countries according to their performance in terms of job insecurity, but also the shock intensity (death rates and case fatality ratio), and identifies the overall over and under performers. The results show that the regional evolution of the job insecurity could be linked to the pandemic evolution, especially in the stronger economies. However, the model does not follow a classic economic core-periphery pattern. The model is challenged especially by a stronger performance of several less performant regions from Italy, Romania, or France.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12076-023-00337-9.

From existential anxiety to posttraumatic growth:: The stranded traveler during the pandemic outbreak

For many, the COVID-19 pandemic is an existential trauma. Existential traumas trigger people's ultimate concerns and shatter individuals' basic assumptions. Based on the perspective of existential positive psychology, this study explores the posttraumatic growth of travelers from Hubei, China, during the early outbreak period. Grounded theory is used to analyze the stranded experience of epicenter travelers during the sudden crisis. This study reveals the intertwined traumatic events that evoke existential anxiety in travelers, as well as five dimensions of posttraumatic growth. Moreover, a theoretical framework is presented, elaborating on the influence path of key factors such as social support, cognition, and coping strategies on posttraumatic growth. Finally, the finding shows a strong resonance between posttraumatic growth and transformative tourism experiences.

Impact of cognitive behavioural intervention on caregiver burden in mothers of children diagnosed with cancer

Background

Mothers of children diagnosed with cancer are found to have coping difficulties in various studies. Most of the studies were done on parents after their child has been newly diagnosed with malignancy, and very few studies were done on coping skills intervention. Hence, this study has been done to assess the impact of cognitive behavioural intervention on caregiver burden in mothers of children diagnosed with cancer.

Methods

Twenty mothers coming to the outpatient department of paediatric oncology from 01 September 2018 to 30 April 2019 were enrolled for the study. The participants were administered General Health Questionnaire, Brief Coping Operation Preference Enquiry Scale, Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations-21 (CISS-21) Scale. Sixteen sessions of cognitive behavioural intervention were given over 8 weeks to all the participants. Reassessment was done after 3 months by use of the above mentioned scales.

Results

Participants' mean anxiety score was 49.40 (standard deviation [SD] ±8.89). They used adaptive (active coping and positive reframing) more than the maladaptive (denial and self-blame) coping strategies. Task- and emotion-focused coping mean score on CISS-21 revealed 19.25 (SD ±6.20) and 18.90 (SD ±5.76), respectively. Reassessment after cognitive behavioural intervention revealed statistically significant improvement in maladaptive coping styles, mean anxiety index score, avoidance, and emotion-focused coping.

Conclusion

The study has revealed mild to moderate anxiety and the use of both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies by participants. There is statistically significant improvement in anxiety, maladaptive coping strategies with cognitive behavioural intervention.

Using a cognitive framework with nurses to manage stress

Nursing can be a stressful occupation with many nurses struggling to cope with stress on a day-to-day basis. Considerable evidence suggests that positive coping strategies can be an effective part of stress management education programs. This article describes the theoretical rationale for a cognitive framework for stress management that was developed as part of a well-being educational program for cancer nurses. This framework included an associated mnemonic (www.pst) to assist in the recall and utilization of positive coping strategies. The stress management framework was intended to increase nurses' perceptions of personal control which is central to stress management. The academic coping literature is complex, jargon laden and often conceptually abstract, and may not easily be understood by a nonacademic audience. The cognitive framework described here is an evidence-based, user-friendly tool that could be used and evaluated by counsellors, educators, and researchers in different settings.

Mental Health Disorders and Coping Strategies in Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analytical Cross-Sectional Study in Southeastern Mexico

Mental health disorders are relatively common in the general population and were already an important issue for the healthcare sector before COVID-19. COVID-19, being a worldwide crucial event and evidently a great stressor has increased both the prevalence and incidence of these. Therefore, it is evident that COVID-19 and mental health disorders are closely related. Moreover, several coping strategies exist to endure said disorders such as depression and anxiety, which are used by the population to confront stressors, and healthcare workers are not the exception. This was an analytical cross-sectional study, conducted from August to November 2022, via an online survey. Prevalence and severity of depression, anxiety, and stress were assessed via the DASS-21 test, and coping strategies were assessed via the CSSHW test. The sample consisted of 256 healthcare workers and of those, 133 (52%) were males with a mean age of 40.4 ± 10.35, and 123 (48%) were females with a mean age of 37.28 ± 9.33. Depression was prevalent in 43%, anxiety in 48%, and stress in 29.7%. Comorbidities were a significant risk factor for both depression and anxiety with an OR of 10.9 and 4.18, respectively. The psychiatric background was a risk factor for depression with an OR of 2.17, anxiety with an OR of 2.43, and stress with an OR of 3.58. The age difference was an important factor in the development of depression and anxiety. The maladaptive coping mechanism was prevalent in 90 subjects and was a risk factor for depression (OR of 2.94), anxiety (OR of 4.46) and stress (OR of 3.68). The resolution coping mechanism was a protective factor for depression (OR of 0.35), anxiety (OR of 0.22), and stress (OR of 0.52). This study shows that mental health disorders are highly prevalent among healthcare workers in Mexico and that coping strategies are associated with their prevalence. It also implies that not only occupations, age, and comorbidities might affect mental health, but also the way patients confront reality and the behavior and decisions they take towards stressors.

Indian Healthcare Workers' Issues, Challenges, and Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

India faced the maximum number of mortalities and morbidities during the second wave of COVID-19. Healthcare workers (HCWs) worked in high-pressure and stressful environments. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the common issues, challenges, and coping strategies of HCWs, as well as the statistical association between demographical characteristics and coping strategies. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 759 HCWs, involving simple, random sampling in Rajasthan, India, between August 2022 and October 2022. Participants responded to a self-administered questionnaire that included a Brief-COPE inventory. The statistical association between commonly adopted coping strategies and demographic characteristics was tested using the chi-square test and Fisher's exact test. A total of 669 (88%) respondents agreed that they faced issues during the COVID-19 pandemic: 721 (95%) participants experienced challenges at the personal level, 716 (94%) at the organizational level, and 557 (74%) at the societal level. Problem-focused coping strategies were frequently adopted by the participants. Gender, marital status, education, hours of work per day, and residential area were significantly associated with a problem-focused coping strategy (p < 0.05). The findings of this study reported a limited use of coping strategies by the participants during the public health crisis, despite facing issues and challenges at work. These findings highlight the need to assist HCWs in developing coping mechanisms to maintain good mental health at work.

Humor Coping Reduces the Positive Relationship between Avoidance Coping Strategies and Perceived Stress: A Moderation Analysis

Humor is considered an adaptive coping strategy as it could reduce the burden of perceived stress and increase positive emotional states when dealing with stressful situations. Humor has been reported in several models as a rather independent strategy that can be correlated with both approach-based coping strategies and avoidance-based coping strategies. Humor can be defined as a hedonistic escapism strategy that would work better in the presence of unpredictable or uncontrollable stressors, such as the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and its related confinement measures. Therefore, during such a stressful event, humor would have increased the positive effect of the approach coping style on mental health and reduced the negative effect of the avoidance coping style. Based on this hypothesis, we conducted a cross-sectional study with a moderation analysis in which we assessed the interaction of humor with both approach-based and avoidance-based coping styles on perceived stress in a large sample of Italian participants collected in April and May 2021. Despite some limitations related to sampling and study design, the results obtained partially support our hypothesis, as we observed that humor had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between avoidance coping and psychological distress, with a reduction of perceived stress while using such a coping style in the presence of a medium to high level of humor. On the other hand, we did not observe a significant moderating effect of humor on the relationship between the approach coping style and perceived stress. In general, our results support the beneficial effect of humor on mental health and highlight a special role for humor as a moderator of other coping strategies.

Children’s perspective on fears connected to school transition and intended coping strategies

The transition from primary to secondary school comes with major changes in the lives of children. There is a shortage of in-depth analyses of young people’s perspectives concerning their fears and strategies to address these. This qualitative study aims to gain first-hand understanding of children’s fears and the intended coping strategies used during school transition. Data from 52 workshops were analysed, with a total of 896 students (M age = 10.40, SD = .839) in lower Austria. First, in the classroom setting, a vignette story about a child facing fears about school transition from primary to secondary school was developed with pupils in a brainstorming session. This was followed by self-selected small group discussions, where pupils proposed strategies to help cope with these fears. A thematic analysis was carried out. Major thematic clusters distinguished between four types of fears: peer victimisation, being alone, victimisation by authority figures, and academic failure. Three additional thematic clusters described strategies for countering the fears: enacting supportive networks, personal emotion regulation, and controlling behaviour. In addition to these connected clusters, two further themes were identified: strategy outcomes and consequences, i.e., personal experiences with using specific strategies, and the discussion of participants about contradictions and questionable usefulness of identified strategy outcomes. In conclusion, the children in our study reported more social fears as compared to academic fears. Children seem reasonably competent at naming and identifying strategies; however, maladaptive strategies, as well as controversies within the described strategies may indicate a lack of certainty and competence at engaging with these strategies on a practical level.