On the Lived Experience of Sex Offenders' Therapists: Their Perceptions of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Consequences and Patterns of Coping

In the last two decades, there has been a growing understanding that the therapeutic encounter with sex offenders takes a cost and has consequences on therapists. Despite the increasing research on the consequences of treating sex offenders, these studies in fact, have merely described the consequences, without providing an outlook for how therapists cope with them. The study presented in this article was part of a larger qualitative research project conducted among social workers, using in-depth semi-structured interviews. Emphasis is placed on therapists' perceptions of the intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences they experience from treating sex offenders, as well as the strategies they use to cope with these consequences. The study's central findings concern the therapists' perception of the intrapersonal consequences, which included two levels: primary responses and cumulative responses, and their perception of the interpersonal consequences that included their parenting relationships, intimate relationships, their attitude toward others (strangers and acquaintances), loss of their quality of life, and further positive consequences. The findings indicated a sequence and integrated use of the strategies to cope with the consequences. The results are discussed in light of the theoretical framework of Lazarus and Folkman's stress and coping theory. The limitations of the study as well as its implications for future research are discussed.

Adaptive Tasks, Coping and Quality of Life of Chronically Ill Patients

This article is a report of a larger study on the relationship between adaptive tasks, coping and quality of life, taking Parkinson's disease and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) as examples. The concept of adaptive tasks or disease-related stressors testing the adaptive capacities of chronically ill patients ( N=134) was explored by applying the method of concept mapping. Results show that patients both with Parkinson's disease and with CFS generally refer to the same themes when asked for the adaptive tasks their disease brings about. However, the actual contents of these adaptive tasks differ as well as their impact on coping and quality of life. In the case of patients with Parkinson's disease, objective disease characteristics appear to be more important in predicting quality of life than in the case of patients with CFS, whose evaluation of adaptive tasks is predictive of quality of life.

The role of bicultural stress and perceived context of reception in the expression of aggression and rule breaking behaviors among recent-immigrant Hispanic youth

Adolescent aggression and delinquency impede healthy adjustment in early adulthood and may have particularly serious long-term consequences for minority youth. Therefore, prevention research should examine these behaviors within a sociocultural framework among newer immigrant samples to determine whether, and how, adaptation to life in the US affects these behaviors. This study investigated the role of two sociocultural variables-bicultural stress and negative context of reception-on changes in aggression and rule breaking behaviors over two time points among recently immigrated Hispanic adolescents residing in Los Angeles (N = 136) and Miami-Dade (N = 142) counties. Linear stepwise regression models were used to assess the associations between predictors and behavioral outcomes. Bicultural stress and negative context of reception both had independent associations, above and beyond parental involvement and delinquent peer associations, with changes in aggressive and rule-breaking behavior during the first year of high school. These findings suggest that social, cultural, and interpersonal processes all influence deviant behaviors in recent-immigrant Hispanic populations. We discuss the implications of these finding for prevention and intervention research and practice. We also recommend that future research continue to examine the role of these factors over the course of adolescence and consider sociocultural influences when designing behavioral interventions for Hispanic immigrant populations.

Sinnfindung, Krankheitsverarbeitung und Lebensqualität von Tumorpatienten im perioperativen Verlauf

Zusammenfassung. Untersucht wird die Bedeutung individueller Sinnfindungsprozesse bei der Verarbeitung einer Tumorerkrankung im peri- und postoperativen Verlauf. Unter Sinnfindung wird die Verarbeitung der Bedrohung durch eine positive Deutung von Teilaspekten der Krankheitserfahrung verstanden. Ausgewertet wurden Daten von 32 Frauen und 52 Männern im Alter von 34 bis 86 Jahren (M = 63 Jahre, SD = 11 Jahre), die wegen eines Tumors im Gastrointestinaltrakt oder in der Lunge operiert wurden. Die Messzeitpunkte lagen drei Tage vor (t1), eine Woche (t2), einen Monat (t3) und ein halbes Jahr (t4) nach der Tumoroperation. Die Ausprägung von Sinnfindung war zu allen Messzeitpunkten hoch, und sie war bedeutsam höher als die von problembezogener und emotionsregulierender Krankheitsverarbeitung. Dennoch war ein signifikanter Anstieg von Sinnfindung während des Erhebungszeitraums zu beobachten. Sinnfindung korrelierte nicht bedeutsam mit emotionalem Wohlbefinden und gesundheitsbezogener Lebensqualität. Stattdessen stand der intra-individuelle Anstieg von Sinnfindung im Zeitraum von t1 zu t3 auch dann noch im Zusammenhang mit Depressivität und globaler gesundheitsbezogener Lebensqualität zu t4, wenn für die Ausgangswerte (t1) kontrolliert wurde. Entscheidender als die Ausprägung von Sinnfindung ist somit der intra-individuelle Zuwachs im perioperativen Krankheitsverarbeitungsprozess.

Toward better research on stress and coping

In commenting in considerable detail on the four main articles in the special section on stress and coping, the author comes to two main conclusions: First, there is an increasing amount of high quality research on stress and coping that suggests the field is finally maturing, and this research may help reduce the long-standing gap between research and clinical practice. Second, this research is increasingly using badly needed research designs that have not hitherto been sufficiently emphasized, such as longitudinal or prospective designs, focused on observations that are day-to-day, microanalytic, and in-depth, and that are compatible with a holistic outlook. The author also addresses the role of positive emotion in coping, the concept of defense as it is dealt with nowadays, and the task of evaluating coping efficacy.