Resilience, Sense of Coherence, and Coping with Stress as Predictors of Psychological Well-Being in the Course of Schizophrenia. The Study Design.

Bernadetta Izydorczyk,Aleksandra Kühn-Dymecka,Katarzyna Sitnik-Warchulska,Sebastian Lizińczyk

doi:10.3390/ijerph16071266

Abstract

The main research objective was seeking for the predictive role of such personal resources as resilience, sense of coherence, and coping with stress in psychological well-being of schizophrenia patients and their treatment. The study group comprised 201 individuals with schizophrenia, aged between 18 and 62. The following instruments were used: The sense of coherence scale SOC-29, The resilience scale for adults, polish adaptation of the stress appraisal measure, semistructured clinical interview, the positive and negative syndrome scale, the mood scale, and the general health questionnaire. A stepwise regression analysis aimed at selecting a group of significant predictors for the verified factors of psychological well-being in patients suffering from schizophrenia was carried out. The results of the study demonstrated the following to be significant predictors of psychological well-being in patients with schizophrenia: Resilience (explaining significantly the level of schizophrenic symptomatology Beta = −0.30, negative symptoms Beta = −0.385, and cognitive disorders Beta = −0.303), sense of coherence, which significantly predicted mood (in the case of manageability, Beta = 0.580 for positive mood, and Beta = 0.534 for negative mood) and psychiatric symptomatology (comprehensibility, Beta = 0.311 for negative symptoms, Beta = 0.173 for excessive arousal, and Beta = 0.330 for cognitive disorganization). The level of perceived stress appraised as challenge predicted positive mood (Beta = 0.164), while stress appraisal in terms of threat served as a predictor for negative mood and depressiveness (Beta = 0.190). The study results can prove helpful in creating therapeutic and programs and psychiatric rehabilitation for patients with schizophrenia.

Highlights

According to literature, it is assumed that various predictors may be significant for a positive course of schizophrenia, up to a patient’s recovery [1,2,3]
The results revealed that patients with schizophrenia demonstrated a low level of such personal resources as general resilience and sense of coherence in comparison with norms, at the same time pointing to appraising the experienced stress frequently as a threat rather than a challenge
The level of stress appraised as challenge predicted positive mood, while stress appraisal in terms of threat served as a predictor for negative mood and depressiveness

Summary

Introduction

It is assumed that various predictors may be significant for a positive course of schizophrenia, up to a patient’s recovery [1,2,3]. Psychosocial resources and deficits or defects of biological and psychosocial structures are important factors that determine the status of psychological well-being as well as course of the disease and the process of recovering from schizophrenia [1,2]. No Polish studies strived to verify simultaneously the predictive role of a set of three interrelated personal resources directed at protecting ego strength, that is: Resilience, sense of coherence, and perceiving stress as a threat versus challenge within a group of patients with schizophrenia similar in terms of sociodemographic variables. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 1266; doi:10.3390/ijerph16071266 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion