Moderating Effects of Religious/Spiritual Coping in the Relation Between Perceived Stress and Psychological Well-Being

Although the relationship between stress and depressive symptoms is well documented, less is known about the role of coping strategies, in particular strategies for coping via religious or spiritual means. To investigate the relationships among these factors, data was collected with questionnaires completed by 127 MSW students at a northeastern university in 2003. Significant Stress×Religious/Spiritual Coping buffer interactions were found in the relationship between stress and depression. EQS 6.1 and hierarchical moderated regression analysis showed that religious/spiritual coping reduced the impact of stress on depression. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Coping With Vicarious Trauma in the Aftermath of a Natural Disaster

This study documents the vicarious psychological impact of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti on Haitians living in the United States. The role of coping resources—family, religious, and community support—was explored. The results highlight the importance of family and community as coping strategies to manage such trauma. Este estudio documenta el impacto psicológico vicario que tuvo el terremoto de 2010 en Haití sobre los residentes haitianos que viven en Estados Unidos. Se explora el papel de los recursos de afrontamiento—apoyo familiar, religioso y comunitario. Lo resultados destacan la importancia de la familia y la comunidad como estrategias de afrontamiento para superar un trauma de esas características.     

Religious Coping and Psychological and Behavioral Adjustment After Hurricane Katrina

Positive and negative religious coping are related to positive and negative psychological adjustment, respectively. The current study examined the relation between religious coping and PTSD, major depression, quality of life, and substance use among residents residing in Mississippi at the time of Hurricane Katrina. Results indicated that negative religious coping was positively associated with major depression and poorer quality of life and positive religious coping was negatively associated with PTSD, depression, poorer quality of life, and increased alcohol use. These results suggest that mental health providers should be mindful of the role of religious coping after traumatic events such as natural disasters.     

Coping with the Uncontrollable: The Use of General and Religious Coping by Caregivers to Spouses with Dementia

SUMMARY

Using a transactional model of stress and coping, we examined the general (i.e., Problem-Focused, Emotion-Focused) and religious (i.e., Self-Directing, Collaborative, Deferring) coping strategies used by 64 caregivers to spouses with dementia to cope with their most significant, albeit uncontrollable, caregiving hassle over a two-month period. With respect to general coping, we hypothesized that caregivers who used Emotion-Focused coping would demonstrate fewer Depressive Symptoms at Month 2 after controlling for Depressive Symptoms at Month 1. With respect to religious coping, we hypothesized that care-givers who used Deferring Coping would also demonstrate fewer Depressive Symptoms. Results revealed interesting patterns between caregivers' use of general and religious coping strategies. Contrary to our hypotheses, caregivers who used Emotion-Focused and Collaborative coping reported greater Depressive Symptoms. Implications for the empirical study of stress and coping and directions for future research are discussed.     

The Primary Care Health System as a Core Resource in Response to Terrorism

Abstract

Living through a terrorist event or under threat of attack affects both mental and physical health. A nation's primary care system plays a critical role under such circumstances. This article reviews the American experience after September 11, 2001 and advocates for integration of mental and physical health services in primary care settings as a key counter-terrorism strategy. Americans put their trust in primary care providers. The nation's healthcare system must develop and implement a strategy that informs and supports primary care providers in meeting the mental health needs of a nation confronted by terrorism.     

Family therapists in trauma-response teams: bringing systems thinking into interdisciplinary fieldwork

Attention to the mental health facets of disaster-preparedness and trauma-response teams has increased considerably over the past decade. As family therapists take part in these efforts, they bring with them a worldview that adds valuable contributions to the nature in which fieldwork is conducted and the manners in which interdisciplinary teams function on the ground. In this article, we present how systems thinking sensitizes trauma workers to a variety of clinical presentations and biopsychosocial complexities inherent in this work. We describe common clinical- and practice-related challenges, alongside practical strategies for effectively dealing with these challenges. We draw upon our experiences as family therapists trained in the field of trauma, and our work as field responders, supervisors and team leaders across a variety of local and large-scale disaster events and contexts.     

Religious Coping in College Students

Three religious-coping profiles (Self-directing, Deferring/Collaborative, and Eclectic) have been identified in previous research with cardiac-transplantation candidates. This study examines the existence of religious-coping styles in college students and tests the role of religious coping as a stress moderator of psychological and physical symptoms. Additional potential stress buffers were included to help explain the relationship between stress and symptomatology more completely. Results supported the existence of the three religious-coping profiles in students; however, no group differences were found for symptomatology. The role of religion in studies of stress for healthy individuals vs. clinical patients is discussed.     

Implementing Trauma-Informed Care in Primary Medical Settings: Evidence-Based Rationale and Approaches

ABSTRACT

Chronic stress stemming from trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) leads to many health problems that are typically seen by primary care providers. Unfortunately, providers rarely identify trauma as the root cause of patient difficulties. The present paper provides an evidence-based rationale for implementing trauma-informed care principles and processes into medical primary care systems. Beginning with a review of prevalence of trauma exposure and PTSD in primary care clinics, this article elucidates relationships between trauma exposure and behavioral and medical health problems, as well as clinical and physiological pathways that lead from trauma exposure to illness. The article concludes with exposition of trauma-informed interventions that can be implemented in primary care clinics, and discussion of future directions.     

The Association Between Strength of Religious Faith and Coping with American Terrorism Regarding the Events of September 11, 2001

This study examined the association between strength of religious faith and coping with the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, the resulting war in Afghanistan, and subsequent anthrax attacks. The participants included 97 students from a West Coast Catholic university. Measures included the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire, the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, the Symptom Check List-90-Revised, the Impact of Event Scale, a 10-point stress, coping, and importance of faith scale, and an author-developed questionnaire assessing demographic as well as qualitative questions regarding coping with terrorism. Results suggest that strength of religious faith was not associated with coping with terrorism.     

Adolescent Health Care Training in Predoctoral Psychology Internship Programs: A Model of Interdisciplinary Training Needs in Health Care

This needs assessment of predoctoral psychology programs in a large southeastern state reveals that although many programs include adolescent health issues and often involve the psychiatry discipline in their curricula, many trainees do not have exposure to medicine, nutrition, or nursing disciplines. Opportunities for greater interdisciplinary adolescent health care training exist in psychology training programs in this southeastern state. Integrating such training into psychology programs may enhance psychology's ability to function as a vital component of adolescent health care teams within academic medical centers across the country.     

“桑美”台风下受创学生的特质应对方式对自杀态度的影响

为了探讨自然灾害事件下受创学生的特质应对方式对自杀态度的影响,采用创伤后症状反应问卷、特质应对方式问卷和自杀态度问卷对“桑美”台风重灾区的650名中小学生进行了测查,结果表明：（1）学生的创伤后症状反应与自杀态度有着显著的相关;（2）特质应对方式对创伤后症状反应与自杀态度关系的调节效应不显著。结果支持了应对的关联模式,应对具有情境化特点。     

Coping with diversity in Religious Education: an overview

As a result of secularisation and increasing religious diversity, several European nation have states adapted their policy with regard to the organisation of Religious Education (RE) (or its equivalent) in state schools (schools funded and established by the state). In this article, different strategies will be outlined and evaluated: (1) the shift from confessional/catechetical to semi-confessional RE; (2) the possibility of exemption; (3) the organisation of an alternative, non-confessional, subject; (4) the expansion of RE subjects (multi-religious RE); (5) the shift from confessional to non-confessional RE; (6) the integration of information about religions in other school subjects. Based on a human rights perspective, the author argues why some of these strategies are preferable to others.     

Health,Finances, Religious Involvement,and Life Satisfaction of Older Adults

ABSTRACT

This study examines the patterns and relationships between twelve independent variables and the expressed subjective well-being of older adults within that classic community setting of the Lynds' “Middletown.” The twelve variables include measures of church attendance, religious activity, religious conservatism/liberalism, subjective health status, social participation, importance of leisure, participation in physical activity, age, sex, marital status, and level of education.     

Women in the National Guard: Coping and Barriers to Care

This study involved interviews with 42 women from the National Guard about their experiences of coping during reintegration into civilian life. Data were analyzed using techniques of conventional content analysis. The 1st theme that emerged regarded barriers to seeking and accessing care (institutional barriers, personal barriers, and stigma). The 2nd theme, coping strategies, consisted of 4 categories (seeking or gaining professional help, seeking social support, using routine activities, and using aspects of religion/spirituality). Implications for clinical work with returning female soldiers are discussed.     

Children's Coping in the Context of Disasters and Terrorism

Disasters and terrorism present significant and often overwhelming challenges for children and families worldwide. Individual, family, and social factors influence disaster reactions and the diverse ways in which children cope. This article links conceptualizations of stress and coping to empirical knowledge of children's disaster reactions, identifies limitations in our current understanding, and suggests areas for future study of disaster coping. Coping strategies, developmental trajectories influencing coping, and the interplay between parent and child coping represent critical areas for advancing the field and for informing programs and services that benefit children's preparedness and foster resilience in the face of mass trauma.     

Trauma-Informed Medical Care: Patient Response to a Primary Care Provider Communication Training

Trauma exposure predicts mental disorders and health outcomes; yet there is little training of primary care providers about trauma’s effects, and how to better interact with trauma survivors. This study adapted a theory-based approach to working with trauma survivors, Risking Connection, into a 6-hour CME course, Trauma-Informed Medical Care (TI-Med), to evaluate its feasibility and preliminary efficacy. We randomized four primary care sites to training or wait-list conditions; PCPs at wait-list sites were trained after reassessment. Primary care providers (PCPs) were Family Medicine residents (n = 17; 2 sites) or community physicians (n = 13; 2 sites). Outcomes reported here comprised a survey of 400 actual patients seen by the PCPs in the study. Patients, mostly minority, completed surveys before or after their provider received training. Patients rated PCPs significantly higher after training on a scale encompassing partnership issues. Breakdowns showed lower partnership scores for those with trauma or posttraumatic stress symptoms. Future studies will need to include more specific trauma-related outcomes. Nevertheless, this training is a promising initial approach to teaching trauma-informed communication skills to PCPs.     

Religious and Psychological Implications of Positive and Negative Religious Coping in Iran

This study examined the religious and psychological implications of religious coping in Iran. University students (N = 224) responded to the Brief Positive and Negative Religious Coping Scales along with measures of Religious Orientation, Integrative Self-Knowledge, Self-Control, Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, Self-Esteem, Guilt, Shame, and Self-Criticism. As in previous research elsewhere, Positive Religious Coping was stronger on average than Negative Religious Coping, and Positive and Negative Religious Coping predicted adjustment and maladjustment, respectively, In addition, this study demonstrated that direct relationships between Positive and Negative Religious Coping appeared to be reliable in Iran; that Positive Religious Copings was broadly compatible with, and Negative Religious Coping was largely irrelevant to, Iranian religious motivations; and that Negative Religious Coping obscured linkages of Positive Religious Coping with religious and psychological adjustment.     

新冠疫情对安宁疗护工作的影响及应对策略

通过对新冠疫情期间安宁疗护实践经验的总结和国内外相关文献的研究,分析和梳理新冠疫情对临终患者和家属身心健康的影响,及新冠疫情期间安宁疗护团队工作模式发生的转变和团队成员面临的身心压力,并对此背景下安宁疗护实施过程中涉及的伦理问题进行思考,总结安宁疗护团队在疫情期间采取的临床应对策略及在生理支持、心理支持、人文关怀和哀伤辅导等方面发挥的作用,强调了在我国普及安宁疗护的重要性和必要性,为今后安宁疗护的发展提供参考。     

Coping with traumatic stress in journalism: a critical ethnographic study

Journalists who witness trauma and disaster events are at risk for physical, emotional, and psychological injury. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a critical ethnographic study among 31 Canadian journalists and photojournalists with regard to coping strategies used to buffer the effects of being exposed to trauma and disaster events and work-related stress. The findings are the result of in-depth individual interviews and six workplace observations with journalists across Canada. The most commonly reported coping strategies were: avoidance strategies at work, use of black humor, controlling one's emotions and memories, exercise and other physical activities, focusing on the technical aspects, and using substances. Recommendations for addressing the effects of work-related stress within this population are provided.