Biopsychosocial Coping and Adjustment of Adult Female Irritable Bowel Syndrome Patients

Abstract

This study describes the biopsychosocial coping and adjustment of adult female Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) patients in managed health care. The non-probability convenience sample consisted of 36 adult women aged between 18 and 60 years, recruited at a managed health care facility in the Nelson Mandela Metropole, and who volunteered to become part of this study. A biographical questionnaire and two paper-and-pencil measures were used to collect the data. The Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) was used to identify the coping resources used by the participants and the Personal, Home, Social and Formal Relations Questionnaire (PHSF), was used as a measure of biopsychosocial adjustment. The biographical questionnaire screened important demographic information essential for the contextual interpretation of results. Descriptive statistics and correlation coefficients were used in the data analysis. The sample perceived themselves as having slightly lower than average levels of coping resources as well as slightly below-average levels of adjustment. Social resources were more readily relied on as a means of coping, and superior adjustment was also indicated in terms of interpersonal and social functioning. A positive correlation was found between patients' coping resources and their adjustment.