Denial Coping Research Articles

The Relationship of Compliance with Coping Strategies and Self-Esteem

Summary: The Gudjonsson Compliance Scale (GCS), the COPE Scale, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were administered to 212 men and 212 women. Multiple regression of the test scores showed that low self-esteem and denial coping were the best predictors of compliance in both men and women. Significant sex differences emerged on all three scales, with women having lower self-esteem than men, being more compliant, and using different coping strategies when confronted with a stressful situation. The sex difference in compliance was mediated by differences in self-esteem between men and women.

The effects of depression, stressful life events, social support, and coping on the progression of HIV infection.

This article reviews recent findings concerning the role of psychosocial factors on the progression of HIV. Specifically, we examine the role of depression, stressful life events, social support, and coping on changes in CD4 T-lymphocytes and other indicators of HIV disease progression. Studies have yielded important evidence that depression, stressful life events, low social support, and denial coping may have a detrimental impact on HIV disease course. Delineating the role of psychosocial factors on HIV disease progression may aid in the development of new interventions for this devastating disease.

Coping and medication adherence in bipolar disorder

Background: Effective treatment of bipolar disorder depends on medication adherence, yet few correlates of adherence have been identified. The pleasure experienced during some manic episodes may render some individuals reluctant to adhere to medications that reduce these ‘highs’. Clinical observers identify denial of the severity or existence of illness as common to both bipolar disorder and addiction. The Alcoholics Anonymous model promotes acceptance as a pathway to abstinence adherence. This report hypothesized that acceptance coping would correlate positively and denial coping would correlate inversely with adherence to mood-stabilizing medication among individuals with bipolar disorder. Methods: Thirty-two participants diagnosed with bipolar I disorder were administered scales from the Brief COPE and an adherence self-report measure. Results: Consistent with hypotheses, curvilinear relationships between acceptance and denial with adherence were detected, suggesting that low levels of acceptance and high levels of denial undermine medication adherence. Limitations: Given the cross-sectional, naturalistic design of the study, no causal inferences can be made. Conclusions: The results uncover links between coping styles and adherence in a psychiatric population. The link between acceptance–denial coping, and mature, self-supportive behavior may point the way towards more effective psychosocial interventions.

Symptom patterns in long-duration chronic fatigue syndrome

Objective: Our objective was to evaluate symptom patterns in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) who were ill for 10 or more years. Methods: This cross-sectional self-report study compared patient groups with long-duration median = 18 years; n = 258 and short-duration median = 3 years; n = 28 CFS to a group of healthy significant others n = 79 on symptomatic, neurocognitive, and psychological variables. Data were gathered from a 574-item postal questionnaire. Results: A principal-components analysis of CFS symptom data yielded a three-factor solution: cognitive problems; flu-like symptoms; and neurologic symptoms. Compared with the short-duration CFS group, the long-duration group had significantly higher CFS symptom severity scores ( p < 0.04), largely attributable to increased cognitive difficulties. A subgroup comparison of subjects ill for < 3 years versus those ill 4–7 years suggested that denial coping strategies were more likely in those participants with the shorter illness duration. Significant differences between both CFS groups and healthy controls were found in a number of comorbid disorders. Participants with CFS most often endorsed immune/viral abnormalities and persistent stress as important perceived causes of their illness. Conclusion: Participants with long-duration CFS reported a large number of specific cognitive difficulties that were greater in severity than those reported by participants with short-duration CFS. The pattern of comorbid disorders in the CFS groups was consistent with hypersensitivity and viral reactivation hypotheses.

The relationship between perceptions of the classroom goal structure and early adolescents' affect in school: The mediating role of coping strategies

This study investigates the relations among students' perceptions of the goal structure in the classroom, the self-report of coping strategies, and affect in school. We hypothesized that perceptions of a task goal structure would be associated with positive coping strategies, and in turn with positive affect; and that perceptions of an ability goal structure would be associated with projective coping, denial coping, and noncoping, and in turn with negative affect. In addition, the study takes note of hypothesized reciprocal relations among all these variables. Using a longitudinal design, surveys were administered to 880 students from 4 ethnically and economically diverse school districts in the fall and spring of the 5th grade in elementary school, and in the fall and spring of the 6th grade in middle school. The findings support the hypothesized relations as well as some reciprocal relations among these variables. The findings also indicate that perceptions of the classroom goal structure were more stable within an environment than across environments, thus supporting the role of environmental characteristics in these perceptions.

1431 Nursing diagnosis in leukemia and lung cancer patients

A descriptive study was conducted to identify and describe nursing diagnosis, their related factors and denning characteristics in leukemia and lung cancer patients and to categorize nursing diagnosis within Functional Health Patterns (FHP). Content analysis of 30 nursing records and interviews with 16 oncology nurses were used. In the leukemia population 47 nursing diagnoses were identified and classified within 10 FH. In the lung cancer population 28 nursing diagnoses were identified and classified in 9 FHE Most of the diagnoses were formulated in the Nutritional-Metabolic Pattern, the Cognitive-Perceptual Pattern, the Activity-Exercise Pattern and the Coping-Stress Pattern. Diagnoses that occurred frequently in both populations were sleep disturbance, pain and self-care deficit Although most of the diagnoses identified in the interviews were also found in the records, the interviewed nurses emphasized psychosocial problems. Diagnoses which were difficult to deal with for nurses were anxiety, uncertainty, denial and ineffective coping of patient and family.

Psychological and neuroendocrine measures related to functional immune changes in anticipation of HIV-1 serostatus notification.

Our previous work indicated that gay males ultimately found to be seronegative showed impaired lymphocyte proliferative responses to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and pokeweed mitogen (PWM) upon entering a study in which they would be notified of their human immunodeficiency virus-Type 1 (HIV-1) antibody status. To examine the degree to which alterations in various neuroendocrine and psychological markers might be related to this phenomenon we measured plasma cortisol, beta-endorphin, denial coping strategies, intrusive thoughts related to AIDS risk, and several affective distress markers in 46 HIV-1 seronegative subjects at each of the timepoints previously studied. Results indicated that cortisol levels were elevated at study entry and decreased across the subsequent five-week period--mirroring the changes in mitogen responsivity across these timepoints. Analyses of individual differences showed that higher baseline cortisol and lower denial coping scores predicted lower PHA values at baseline. Persisting intrusive thoughts about risk of HIV-1 infectivity (after seronegativity notification) were consistently associated with higher plasma cortisol levels. Finally, beta-endorphin levels did not change significantly across the 10-week observation period, were not associated with psychological variables, and were inconsistently associated with immune functioning.