Use Of Emotion-focused Strategies Research Articles

Factors influencing the coping strategies of liver cancer patients undergoing transarterial chemoembolization.

This study explored the association between social support, resilience and coping strategies among patients with liver cancer and evaluated the extent to which patients' use of various coping strategies can be explained by social support and resilience. This cross-sectional study comprised 119 patients who experienced transarterial chemoembolization related to liver cancer and who completed the Social Support Scale, the Resilience Scale and the Ways of Coping Checklist-Revised. Results indicated a significant positive correlation between social support and use of problem-focused coping strategies and overall coping strategies. In addition, results showed a significant positive correlation between resilience and use of problem-focused strategies, emotion-focused strategies and overall coping strategies. Social support accounted for 14% of variance in use of problem-focused strategies and 7.6% of the variance in overall coping strategies. Resilience accounted for 30.5% of the variance in use of problem-focused strategies, 8.5% in use of emotion-focused strategies and 21.6% of overall coping strategies. Results of this study highlight the importance of social support and resilience in patients' coping strategies related to liver cancer treatment.

Habitual use of psychological coping strategies is associated with physiological stress responding during negative memory recollection in humans

Research has identified a variety of strategies people use to cope with stress and that the adaptiveness of various strategies depends on the context in which they are used. However, important questions remain about the role of physiological stress response systems in supporting, influencing, or changing from coping strategies. This study works toward addressing this gap by examining associations between skin conductance level (SCL) and habitual use of coping strategies. It was hypothesized that more use of problem-focused strategies would be associated with SCL trajectories that were more stable and decreased less steeply, with the opposite trend hypothesized for more use of emotion-focused strategies. Participants were 188 college students (78% female) who reported their use of 14 coping strategies. SCL was recorded during recall of a negative family memory from childhood for five minutes. Trajectories of SCL during the recall were estimated with multilevel modeling. Greater self-distraction, planning, active coping, use of emotional support, and coping flexibility were related to trajectories of SCL that decreased less steeply and were more stable. Problem-focused coping and coping flexibility are, therefore, related to reduced SCL reactivity and promoting these skills may benefit mental health.

Attachment anxiety and resilience: The mediating role of coping

In recent research, attachment has been addressed as a core factor that potentially contributes to resilience. However, there is still much to investigate regarding the mechanisms of this relationship. Emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping strategies may be promising pathways via which attachment associates with resilience. The present study evaluated the role of attachment insecurity (i.e., attachment anxiety and avoidance) in resilience among a Turkish sample during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesized that individuals with high levels of attachment anxiety would experience lower resilience via emotion-focused coping strategies. On the other hand, we did not have a specific hypothesis for attachment avoidance due to contrasting research findings of previous studies. Participants reported their attachment orientation, resilience, and coping strategies. Attachment anxiety was directly and, through both coping strategies, indirectly linked to resilience however attachment avoidance was only indirectly related to resilience through problem-focused coping. The findings indicate that low levels of attachment anxiety and the ability to use problem-focused coping strategies may be associated with greater resilience. The fostering of attachment security may thus reduce the use of emotion-focused strategies and may promote resilience among individuals with high levels of attachment anxiety. Moreover, our study is one of the first to investigate attachment orientations in relevance with coping and resilience during the ongoing pandemic This research has implications regarding the potentials of introducing psycho-educational trainings for better coping strategies in crisis like COVID-19 pandemic.

Health literacy and eHealth literacy and their association with other caring concepts among carers of people with dementia: A descriptive correlational study.

Health literacy (HL) and eHealth literacy (eHL) can facilitate carers of people with dementia (PwD) to search, find, assess and apply information related to dementia-specific issues from different resources. There is a lack of research with regard to HL and eHL among carers of PwD. The aim of this study is to identify the levels of HL and eHL among carers of PwD in Greece and Cyprus and to search for the associations with other caring concepts. This study followed a descriptive correlational design. In total, 174 primary informal carers of PwD, mostly women, over 45years old and with more than 12years of education and 67 secondary carers (family, friends or neighbours) participated in the study. Primary informal carers completed a face-to-face survey on the level of HL and eHL, internet use, dementia-specific internet use, care-giving self-efficacy, coping strategies, care-giving perceptions and social support. Primary informal carers reported a high level of eHL and HL. Carers with higher HL were more likely to report higher score of eHL, care-giving self-efficacy and lower score of problematic/dysfunctional coping. Higher score of eHeals-Carer "information seeking" was related with higher use of emotion-focused strategies. From this study, a positive message was received with regard to the role of HL and eHL in the everyday caring life. Non-for-profit organisations and healthcare professionals could integrate in their practice assessment tools and develop tailored training courses for carers enhancing low level of HL and eHL.

A Structural Equation Model of Achievement Emotions, Coping Strategies and Engagement-Burnout in Undergraduate Students: A Possible Underlying Mechanism in Facets of Perfectionism.

Achievement emotions that the university student experiences in the learning process can be significant in facilitating or interfering with learning. The present research looked for linear and predictive relations between university students’ achievement emotions, coping strategies, and engagement-burnout, in three different learning situations (classroom, study time, and testing). Hypotheses were identified for a possible model that would analyze the two facets of perfectionism based on these relations. In the case of perfectionistic strivings, the test hypothesis was that positive emotions would predispose the use of problem-focused coping strategies and an emotional state of engagement; in the case of perfectionistic concerns, however, negative emotions would predispose the use of emotion-focused strategies and a state of burnout. A total of 654 university students participated in the study, using an online tool to complete validated questionnaires on the three study variables. All students provided informed consent and corresponding permissions. Given the ex-post facto linear design, the predictions could be verified for each situation by means of logistic regression analyses and Structural Equations Models (SEM). Empirical results lent support, in varying degree, to the proposed theoretical relations. The testing situation was of particular interest. We discuss implications for perfectionism research and for the practice of prevention, education and health care in the university setting.

Parental Emotion-Focused Behaviors Moderate the Relationship Between Perceptual Sensitivity and Fear Reactivity in Anxious Children.

This investigation examined the synergistic role of parental emotion-focused socialization behaviors and children's perceptual sensitivity on children's fear reactivity. A sample of 105 children with anxiety disorders (8-12years; M = 10.07years, SD = 1.22; 57% female) and their clinically anxious mothers (M = 39.35years, SD = 7.05) completed an assessment battery that included a diagnostic interview and questionnaires regarding anxiety symptoms, perceptual sensitivity, and emotion socialization behaviors; children also completed a 5-min, videotaped speech task, and rated their fear levels before and after the task. Analyses revealed a significant interaction between perceptual sensitivity and emotion-focused strategies predicting fear change scores from pre- to post-speech. Higher perceptual sensitivity was related to greater reductions in fear from pre- to post- speech (adjusting for pre-speech fear scores), yet only among anxious children whose mothers reported high use of emotion-focused strategies. Maternal emotion-focused socialization strategies may increase anxious children's ability to modulate their affective responses during stressful situations.

Locus of control and coping strategies in older persons with and without depression

Objectives: To compare locus of control and coping strategies in older persons with and without depression.Method: This cross-sectional study included 144 depressed in-patients from seven psychogeriatric hospital units, and 106 community-dwelling older persons without depression. All participants were 60 years and older. Locus of control was assessed by a 17-items self-report questionnaire with six response categories. Coping strategies were assessed by a 26-items self-report questionnaire with five response categories. For analytical purposes, age (<75 years vs. ≥75 years), level of education (<10 years vs. ≥10 years) and general medical health (poor vs. not poor) were categorized.Results: In linear regression analysis, controlling for demographics, health, and social variables, the depressed in-patients showed a higher external locus of control orientation and a less frequent use of problem-focused coping strategies compared with the non-depressed group. No differences in use of emotion-focused strategies were found between the two groups.Conclusion: Compared with the non-depressed old persons, the depressed hospitalized older persons were characterized by perceptions of less personal control, and less use of problem-focused strategies, what also might have brought positive alterations into their situation.

Influence of personality traits in coping skills in individuals with bipolar disorder

Background: Bipolar disorder is marked by alterations in coping skills which in turn impacts the disease course. Personality traits are associated with coping skills and for this reason it has been suggested that personality traits of patients with BD may have influence over their coping skills. Objective: To investigate possible associations between coping skills and personality in individuals with bipolar disorder (BD). Methods: Thirty-five euthymic subjects with BD were compared with 40 healthy controls. Coping skills were evaluated using Ways of Coping Checklist Revised and Brief-COPE. Personality traits were assessed by Neo Personality Inventory. MANCOVA was used for between groups comparison. Results: Regarding coping, individuals with BD reported more frequent use of emotion-focused strategies than problem-focused strategies, and high levels of neuroticism and low levels of extroversion and conscientiousness on personality measures. Neuroticism influenced negatively the use of problem-focused strategies, and positively emotion-focused coping. Conscientiousness influenced the use of problem-focused strategies in both groups. There was a significant difference between emotion focused coping and personality traits between BD and control groups. Discussion: Personality traits seem to modulate coping skills and strategies in BD which may be took into account for further interventions. Souza EL, et al. / Rev Psiq Clin. 2014;41(4):95-100

Predictors of Psychological well-being of Pakistani Immigrants in Toronto, Canada

The growing rate of international migration directs health care professionals to focus on immigrants’ mental and physical health issues. This study focused on the risk and resource factors of positive well-being and negative health outcomes of Pakistani immigrants residing in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Canada. It assessed the impact of coping resources (sense of coherence and perceived social support) and coping strategies (problem-focused and emotion-focused) on positive well-being and negative mental health outcomes using a stress-health model. On a final sample of 308 Pakistani immigrants, a series of hierarchical regression analyses were performed. Results indicated that a lower level of acculturative stress, a greater sense of coherence, use of problem focused strategies, a higher level of perceived social support and the demographic variable: higher perceived income comfort level, were together associated with higher positive functioning. The negative mental health outcomes were associated with higher level of acculturative stress, lower sense of coherence, use of emotion-focused strategies, low perceived social support and demographic variables including low perceived income comfort level, non-relevant jobs and younger age of participants’ children. R 2 for the full psychological well-being model was .45. Acculturative stress and demographic variables explained a significant portion (24%) of the total variance associated with negative mental health outcomes ( R 2 = .34). The current findings have implications for clinicians, researchers, and policy makers for the identification of resource factors that could help a growing immigrant population establish and maintain positive functioning.

Psychological Factors Associated With Response to Maxillofacial Injury and Its Treatment

This study evaluated symptoms of acute stress disorder (ASD), satisfaction with appearance postsurgery, and satisfaction with care in patients with maxillofacial injury at their first postsurgical physician visit. To determine the best predictors of patients' ASD symptoms and satisfaction, data also were obtained on the patients' strategies for coping with the stress of the injury, on the patients' and doctors' interpersonal appraisals of each other, and on the doctors' participatory behavior during the visits. A total of 47 patients who had sustained traumatic maxillofacial injury requiring emergency medical/surgical treatment were administered self-report measures immediately before and after their first postsurgical visit 10 to 12 days after trauma exposure. Doctors completed self-report measures after the visit and evaluated the patients' severity of injury. Patients experienced high levels of ASD in the short-term period after surgery. Use of emotion-focused strategies by patients to cope with stress was associated with more ASD symptoms but better satisfaction with facial appearance. The more severely injured patients were less satisfied with their appearance and were viewed by their doctors as being more interpersonally controlling during the postsurgical visit. Closer attention by doctors to patients' interpersonal behavior may aid in early identification of those patients with maxillofacial injury who may experience longer-term social problems related to their altered facial appearance.

Interaction between emotions and somatic complaints in children who did or did not seek medical care

This study aimed to investigate how emotional functioning can be linked to health problems in children. Three groups were compared: (1) a clinical group, consisting of children with abdominal pain, attending an out-patient clinic; (2) a group from the general population who had high scores on a self-report somatic complaint list; and (3) a group from the general population who reported no or few somatic complaints. It was shown that groups 1 and 2 experienced negative moods and negative emotions with a higher frequency and/or intensity, and had a lower feeling of competence than group 3. They were also more likely to act upon physical complaints in emotionally stressful situations than group 3, although all groups made use of emotion-focused strategies. It is suggested that it is not an impaired capacity to identify emotions (an important feature of alexithymia), but an inability to differentiate between, and cope with, negative emotions that might be an important factor in children's health problems. Suggestions for future research are made.

The role of gender and job level in coping with occupational stress

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between coping and health problems in the context of gender and level in the organization. Questionnaire data were collected from 279 women and men (100 managers and 179 non-managers) at a sales department in a Swedish telecom company in which men and women worked at similar tasks. It was hypothesized that, if gender and level in the organization were controlled for, the use of problem-focused strategies would be associated with fewer health problems and the use of emotion-focused strategies with greater health problems. It was also predicted that men and women at a similar organizational level would not differ in their use of problem-focused coping strategies. The results showed, contrary to the hypothesis, that when level and gender were controlled for, no relation between problem-focused strategies and health was obtained. Instead the emotion-focused strategy of Seeking emotional support was associated with fewer health problems, whereas Focus on emotions and Alcohol/drug disengagement were associated with more symptoms. Coping was at least partly related to level. At a managerial level the men and the women used basically the same strategies whereas at a non-managerial level traditionally-conceived coping patterns were evident.

Stress and Coping Processes in Men with Prostate Cancer: The Divergent Views of Husbands and Wives

Using a retrospective methodology, the information from 57 survivors of prostate cancer and their spouses about patients' stress, coping, and support during treatment was obtained. Despite remembering having experienced substantial stress, survivors of prostate cancer were quite well adjusted. Patients remembered coping primarily by seeking support and indicated that they received a great deal of support from numerous potential support providers. Patients and wives failed to agree on patients' stress experiences, with wives consistently reporting that their husbands experienced more stress than the husbands themselves reported. Convergence in patient-wife reports of the patients' coping and support was somewhat better, but was still poor. Although recollections of coping strategy use during treatment, particularly the use of emotion-focused strategies, was related to current adjustment, measures of divergence in patient-wife reports were not.

Optimism and Sport Confidence as Correlates of Slump-Related Coping among Athletes

Sport performers (N = 213) completed either a questionnaire measure of dispositional optimism or a questionnaire measure of trait sport confidence and then provided information about how they cope with performance slumps. The use of task-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidance-oriented coping strategies was assessed with a slump-referenced version of the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS; Endler &amp; Parker, 1990a). Results indicated that both personality measures were positively related to the use of problem-focused strategies and negatively related to the use of emotion-focused strategies. These findings are discussed in relation to previous research on confidence in sport and a model of sport-related coping proposed by Hardy, Jones, and Gould (1996). Practical implications for the effective management of performance slumps are also addressed.

Does hardiness contribute to mental health during a stressful real-life situation? The roles of appraisal and coping.

Israeli recruits (N = 276) completed questionnaires on hardiness, mental health, cognitive appraisal, and ways of coping at the beginning and end of a demanding, 4-month combat training period. Path analysis revealed that 2 components of hardiness--commitment and control measured at the beginning of the training--predicted mental health at the end of the training through the mediation of appraisal and coping variables. Commitment improved mental health by reducing the appraisal of threat and the use of emotion-focused strategies and by increasing secondary appraisal. Control improved mental health by reducing the appraisal of threat and by increasing secondary appraisal and the use of problem-solving and support-seeking strategies.

Childhood Coping Strategies and the Adult Adjustment of Female Sexual Abuse Victims

A sample of 66 college women's retrospective reports of childhood sexual abuse were examined in order to identify the coping strategies implemented by these women at the time of the abuse to deal with their victimization and the relationship between these coping efforts, their perceptions of control over the abuse, and their adult adjustment. Resuts indicated that victims attempt both to regulate their distress (with emotion-focused coping strategies) and to impact the actual abuse situation (using problem-focused coping strategies). However, victims report relying more heavily on the use of emotion-focused strategies. Results further suggest that adult symptomatology is most strongly related to level of emotion-focused coping implemented by victims, with greater use of these strategies associated with greater levels of dysfunction. The implications of these results are discussed with regard to prevention programs.