HIGHLY ANXIOUS PUPILS IN FORMAL AND INFORMAL PRIMARY CLASSROOMS; THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INFERRED COPING STRATEGIES AND: I—COGNITIVE ATTAINMENT

Summary . This study was carried out in conjunction with the Teaching Styles project (Bennett, 1976). Questionnaire measures of ‘anxiety’ and ‘achievement motivation’, together with cognitive tests of English, mathematics and reading were administered to a sample of 956 primary school pupils in classes taught by teachers representing formal, informal and mixed teaching styles at the beginning and towards the end of the final year in primary school. Based on the premise that self-report measures of ‘anxiety’ and ‘achievement motivation’ may be indicative of coping strategies, zonal analyses of post-test data were carried out separately by sex and within teaching style. Results showed higher levels of attainment for highly anxious highly motivated pupils (an inferred coping strategy of approach) than for highly anxious low motivated pupils (an inferred coping strategy of avoidance). Further analyses indicated a close link between anxiety, motivation and ability for girls, a finding interpreted in terms of sex-related conformity, but for boys considerable discrepancies in attainment in relation to the inferred coping strategies were still in evidence at the lower ability level under all teaching styles. At the upper ability level significant discrepancies in attainment were shown only for boys in formal classrooms, where an inferred coping strategy of ‘approach’ was found to be associated with the highest level of attainment and an inferred coping strategy of ‘avoidance’ was associated with the lowest level of attainment. These findings are interpreted in terms of extrinsic motivational incentives, success and failure experience and possible parental influence. Further analysis indicated that ‘avoiders' tended to be introverted and ‘approachers' extraverted in personality. This finding is interpreted in the light of Gray's 1970 postulate that introverts are relatively more susceptible to punishment/non-reward, whereas extraverts are relatively more susceptible to reward.     

The psychosocial impact of caregiving in dementia and quality of life: a systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative research

ABSTRACT

Objective: A systematic meta-synthesis of qualitative studies was conducted to interpret and synthesise findings from studies investigating the experiences, quality of life, and psychosocial impact of caregiving on adult informal caregivers of people with dementia.

Design: The meta-synthesis was conducted according to the principles of meta-ethnography.

Results: Fourteen studies describing the experiences of 265 informal caregivers were reviewed. The meta-synthesis elicited the following themes: (1) understanding and making sense of the dementia diagnosis, changing symptoms, and the caregiver role; (2) coping strategies, psychological facilitators and rewards of caregiver role; (3) challenges of caring for a person with dementia and their behaviour; (4) caregivers' relationships with care-recipient and other informal caregivers; and (5) caregivers’ experiences of formal support services and material resources.

Conclusion: Our findings highlight the need for a person-centred approach to care planning that also accounts for the needs of the informal caregiver to promote better caregiver well-being and quality of life. Caregivers’ emotional support, coping, resilience, need for information and respite care and adjustment to caregiver identity should be reviewed as part of the care package for the person with dementia.     

Caregiver models of self and others, coping, and depression: predictors of depression in children with chronic pain.

In a sample of 59 chronically ill pediatric patients and their maternal caregivers, both child-reported pain and caregiver-reported depression predicted child-reported depression. Results further suggested that the association between pain and depression in children is ameliorated by caregiver coping strategies and that how caregivers cope is a function of their attachment-related representations of the self and others. Caregivers with a negative model of the self were more depressed. and those with a negative model of others were more prone to use avoidant coping strategies, and, in turn, to be more depressed. However, the extent to which caregivers with negative models of self used more avoidant and less approach coping appeared to depend on whether they perceived that others were likely to respond to their needs.     

Social support,coping, and psychological adjustment among caregivers of head-injured patients

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test a mediational model of risk and protective factors associated with the psychological adjustment of caregivers of head-injured patients. Forty-three caregivers of patients who had suffered a head injury participated in the study. Findings strongly supported hypotheses. Caregiver burden was associated with poorer psychological adjustment. Social support and a higher percentage of approach coping strategies relative to overall coping strategies were associated with better psychological adjustment. As predicted, caregiver burden showed a direct relationship to psychological adjustment, while social support showed an indirect relationship to adjustment mediated by percentage approach coping.     

Ethnic and Gender Differences in Distress Among Anglo American, African American, Japanese American, and Mexican American Spousal Caregivers of Persons with Dementia

Distress, coping, and social resources were compared in a sample of 202 Japanese-, Anglo-, African-, and Mexican American spousal caregivers of persons with dementia using a Stress-Coping model. Both ethnicity and gender showed differential effects on the outcome and on the moderating variables. Female caregivers in all ethnic groups reported significantly higher levels of psychiatric symptomatology. All 4 ethnic groups reported high rates of psychological distress, with Mexican Americans reporting significantly higher rates of depression than Anglo or African Americans. Ethnicity was related to (1) the kind of caregiving appraisals (spiritual, pessimistic, and lack of support), (2) coping styles (escape-avoidance and seeking social support), and (3) social support. African Americans were more likely to be spiritual appraisers, to have more positive appraisals, and to have more social support available to them. Gender differences were evident on 4 out of the 6 caregiver appraisals, but none of the coping styles. Although males tended to have more perfectionistic appraisals, they were also more likely to view caregiving with a less negative and more self-efficacious outlook.     

Stress, appraisal, coping, and social support as predictors of adaptational outcome among dementia caregivers

A stress and coping model was used to study predictors of individual differences in caregiver adaptation. A total of 54 family caregivers of elderly dementia patients completed interviews and questionnaires assessing the severity of patient impairment and caregiving stressors; caregiver appraisals, coping responses, and social support and activity; and caregiver outcomes, including depression, life satisfaction, and self-rated health. Correlational and regression analyses supported the utility of the stress and coping model. Appraisal, coping responses, and social support and activity were significant predictors of caregiver outcome, even when severity of caregiving stressors was statistically controlled. The importance of a multidimensional approach to assessing caregiver outcomes was supported by regression analyses indicating that each caregiver outcome was predicted by different patterns of stressors, appraisal, coping, and social support and activity. Results are discussed in terms of a stress and coping model of caregiving, and clinical implications for work with caregiving families.     

Community violence exposure,coping, and problematic alcohol and drug use among urban,female caregivers: A prospective study

Victimization is associated with substance use in women, but less is known about linkages between witnessing community violence and substance use, even though more women witness versus directly experience violence. Further, factors that contribute to or protect against women’s problematic substance use are less well understood. Urban female caregivers (N = 318; >92% African American/black) living in low-income communities were interviewed annually for three waves regarding exposure to community violence, coping behaviors, substance use, and protective factors. Path analyses revealed that lifetime witnessing of violence, but not victimization, assessed at baseline, was associated with changes in avoidant coping, but not active coping, one year later; avoidant coping, in turn, was related to changes in and higher levels of problematic drug use the following year. Victimization was directly related to problematic drug use, but not to alcohol use. Regression analyses indicated that high levels of religious commitment and social support at baseline were prospectively associated with lower levels of avoidant coping. Because caregivers are important role models for their children, it is important to attend to the factors that contribute to their substance use and abuse.     

脑卒中患者功能独立性与家庭照料者负担感的关系：以社会支持为中介变量和调节变量

研究对203名脑卒中患者的家庭照料者进行了问卷调查,以探讨患者的功能独立性对家庭照料者负担感的作用机制。结果显示,82.3%脑卒中患者的家庭照料者有明显的负担感;患者的功能独立性与家庭照料者的负担感显著负相关;来自患者的社会支持在患者功能独立性与家庭照料者负担感之间起中介作用,而来自患者之外的社会支持则起调节作用。结果表明,在家庭照料负担的干预实践中,应注意区分来源不同的社会支持及其作用机制。     

Traumatisation,psychological defence style,coping, symptomatology,and social support in HIV-positive: A pilot study

This paper examines degree of traumatisation, defence styles, coping strategies, symptomatology, and social support in a small sample of HIV-positive men and women in an effort to ascertain the psychological implications of living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Traumatisation and the potentially mediating effects of defence styles have only been the subject of a few studies of HIV positives. The study is based on a socio-demographic questionnaire, the Impact of Event Scale, the Defence Style Questionnaire, the Coping Styles Questionnaire, the Trauma Symptom Checklist, and the Crisis Support Scale. A degree of traumatisation that warrants treatment was found together with an association between particular coping strategies and symptomatology, and particular defence styles and symptomatology, respectively. Social support had increased over time, which is contrary to other research findings on social support.     

Dealing with Hurt: An Assessment of Dispositional Style and Ethnicity in Coping Strategies

This study explored differences in coping styles based on the type of hurt experienced. Participants included 398 students (291 female and 87 male), who completed a computerized assessment of dispositional hurt, coping styles, and depression. The interrelationships amongst the two hurt typologies (introjective and retaliatory), 12 coping styles, and depression then were analyzed. Results showed that people with an introjective hurt disposition were more likely to use emotional support and instrumental support than those with a retaliatory hurt disposition, who were more likely to engage in planning and humor. Moreover, ethnic differences for two coping styles emerged; specifically, African Americans were more likely to use religion, whereas Caucasians were more likely to use substances as primary coping mechanisms.     

Why women of lower educational attainment struggle to make healthier food choices: The importance of psychological and social factors

Women of lower educational attainment are more likely to eat unhealthy diets than women of higher educational attainment. To identify influences on the food choices of women with lower educational attainment, 11 focus groups (eight with women of lower, and three with women of higher educational attainment) were held. Using a semi-structured discussion guide, environmental, social, historical and psychological factors known to be associated with food choice were explored. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. Compared to women of higher educational attainment, women of lower educational attainment had less control over their families’ food choices, less support for attempts to eat healthily, fewer opportunities to observe and learn good food-related practices, more negative affect, more perceived environmental constraints and more ambiguous beliefs about the consequences of eating a nutritious diet. These findings provide a starting point for taking forward the design of an intervention to improve the diets of young women.     

The role of familism in stress and coping processes among African American and White dementia caregivers: effects on mental and physical health.

OBJECTIVE: To explore how familism, burden, and coping styles mediate the relationships between ethnicity and the mental and physical health of caregivers. DESIGN: A probability sample of 65 White and 95 African Americans respondents caring for an older family member with dementia was used to test hypotheses from a sociocultural stress and coping model using path analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Measures of caregivers' health included subjective health, self-reported diseases, blood pressure, and heart rate. Mental health measures included self-reported depression and psychological symptoms. RESULTS: Contrary to the hypothesis, familism had an adverse effect on outcomes and was related to low education levels rather than to African American ethnicity. A buffering effect of active coping between being African American and diastolic blood pressure was found even after controlling for levels of education. CONCLUSIONS: Findings supported a core stress and coping model in which more behavior problems of care recipients were associated with poorer mental health of caregivers via greater burden and more use of avoidant coping. Results also demonstrate that this core model can be extended to physical health.     

Coping in Caregivers of Youth with Spinal Cord Injury

This study examined coping among caregivers of youth with spinal cord injuries (SCI). Using a cross-sectional survey study design, 164 caregivers completed a demographics questionnaire and the Brief COPE. Their children, youth with SCI ages 7–18, completed the Kidcope. T-tests were conducted to examine differences in caregiver coping by demographic and injury-related factors. Further, logistic regression models were evaluated to examine predictive relationships between caregiver coping and youth coping. Several demographic and injury-related factors were related to caregiver coping, including caregiver gender, race, and education, as well as youth gender, age at injury, and time since injury. In the logistic regressions, two caregiver coping strategies were related to youth coping: caregiver self-blame coping was related to youth self-criticism, and caregiver behavioral disengagement coping (giving up attempts to cope) was related to youth blaming others coping. The findings suggest that caregiver coping may play a role in the coping of their children, and should be considered when addressing coping among youth with SCI.     

Coping styles in adults with cystic fibrosis: implications for emotional and social quality of life

As life expectancy increases, interest has grown surrounding the factors that may influence quality of life (QOL) for people with cystic fibrosis (CF). The aim of the current study was to examine which specific coping styles were positively or negatively associated with social and emotional QOL in a CF sample. One hundred and twenty-two respondents aged 18 and over were recruited through an online support group. Respondents completed the ‘CF Questionnaire-Revised (CFQ-R)’ and the ‘Brief COPE’. The CFQ-R is a disease-specific instrument designed to measure the impact of CF on nine QOL domains and the Brief COPE is a 28 item questionnaire which assesses 14 coping scales. A multivariate regression model revealed that higher substance abuse and disengagement was associated with lower emotional QOL whereas greater use of religion, instrumental coping and acceptance was positively associated with emotional QOL. Active coping was linked to better social QOL and a negative association was reported between distraction coping with both emotional and social domains. Given the burden of CF, ascertaining which factors enhance or diminish emotion and social well-being is now an integral component of QOL research. The current findings may therefore have value in informing clinical interventions which aim to cater for the psychological needs of individuals with CF.     

Caregiver burden and family functioning in different neurological diseases

Aim of this study is to examine caregiver burden and family functioning in different neurological conditions. Forty-two primary caregivers of patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementia (AD), Parkinson’s Disease (PD), Acquired Brain Injuries (ABI) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) were administered scales for the evaluation of caregiver burden (CBI) and family functioning (FACES IV). Caregiver burden was overall high, with caregivers of patients with ALS and ABI having exceeded the CBI cut-off score for possible burn-out. The average scores of caregivers of patients with AD or other dementia and PD were close to the cut-off score, whereas those of caregivers of patients with MS were significantly lower than the others. Family cohesion, family satisfaction and the quality of family communication were associated with reduced levels of caregiver burden, whereas disengagement was associated with a higher burden. The data from the present study confirm that caregiver burden is a relevant issue in the context of neurological diseases, especially for those causing higher degrees of impairment. Significant correlations with family functioning emerged as well, highlighting the importance of studying and treating caregiver burden within the context of family relations.     

“It can save you if you just forget”: Closeness and Competence as Conditions for Coping among Ugandan Orphans

This article explores the coping strategies of orphaned children and their caregivers supported by a community-based organization in a Ugandan slum area. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with eight orphans (aged 12 to 16 years) and their caregivers selected by the community-based organization. The children had experienced several co-occurring risk factors such as loss and separation, poverty, disease, and an unsafe environment. Most caregivers were extended family members. One caregiver was an unrelated foster carer. Three of the households were child-headed. Data were analysed using an adapted approach of Giorgio's (Hafting, 1995; Malterud, 2001) psychological-phenomenological method. Participating children from child-headed households lacked protective factors associated with closeness (i.e., supportive dyadic relationships). All the children in the study experienced competence in the arenas of school and household chores. Cultural advice on handling adversity, including ‘forgetting’, ‘accepting’ and ‘adjusting’, appears to contradict Western theories of coping. Sommerschild's theoretical model on the conditions for coping was effective in identifying conditions in children's lives that may impair their coping, self-worth, and resilience.     

Adolescent coping with everyday stressors: A seven-nation study of youth from central,eastern, southern,and northern Europe

The present study compares problem-specific coping strategies and coping styles of European adolescents from seven nations. The sample consisted of 3031 adolescent participants, aged 11 to 20, from Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, and Switzerland. The adolescents completed the Coping Across Situations Questionnaire (CASQ) by indicating which coping strategies (from 20 alternatives) they usually employed in dealing with age-specific problems (covering 8 different domains). The strategies can be collapsed to three coping styles: active coping, internal coping, and withdrawal. Results show that adolescents from all seven nations predominantly employed functional forms of coping, i.e., active coping and internal coping. In addition, the pattern of frequently and rarely applied coping strategies was similar across cultures. Differences in coping style were revealed for some, but not all problem domains, suggesting that cross-cultural similarity in coping exists for specific stressors. Problem-specific analyses helped to clarify where cultural influence is most distinct. Whereas cultural diversity was highest for coping with job-related problems, coping with self- and future-related problems was highly similar among adolescents from all the nations. Despite the considerable traditional, educational, and economic differences among the cultures investigated, the similarities in coping behaviour were impressive. Explanations for cultural universals and differences in adolescent coping are discussed.     

Correlates of Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms Among the Caregivers of Leukemic Children

This study aims to reveal correlates of depressive and anxiety symptoms among the Turkish caregivers of leukemic children (n?=?100). The effects of demographic variables, satisfaction of the basic needs, performance on daily activities, and coping strategies on outcome variables were investigated by hierarchical regression. Accordingly, older age, lower reported income, higher number of other children to be looked after, lower levels of satisfaction of basic needs, and more use of emotion focused coping were associated with higher levels of both depressive and anxiety symptoms. Moreover, caregivers with lower education reported more depressive symptoms, and higher performance on daily activities predicted more anxiety symptoms.     

Goal adjustment capacities, coping, and subjective well-being: the sample case of caregiving for a family member with mental illness

This study examined the associations between goal adjustment capacities, coping, and indicators of subjective well-being in 2 waves of data from individuals who provide care for a family member with mental illness. We hypothesized that goal adjustment capacities would predict higher levels of subjective well-being by facilitating coping with caregiving stress. Results showed that goal disengagement was associated with effective care-specific coping (e.g., less self-blame and substance use). Goal reengagement was also associated with effective care-specific coping (e.g., positive reframing), but at the same time it predicted the use of less effective strategies (e.g., venting and self-distraction). Moreover, goal disengagement predicted lower levels of caregiver burden and depressive symptoms and buffered the longitudinal effect of caregiver burden on increases in depressive symptoms. Goal reengagement, by contrast, predicted higher levels of caregiver burden and purpose in life and buffered the cross-sectional association between caregiver burden and depressive symptoms. Finally, effective (and less useful) care-specific coping statistically explained the adaptive (and maladaptive) effects of goal adjustment capacities on participants' well-being.