What is Coping?
The concept of coping has been used to describe components of the process of dealing with chronic and serious health conditions (Aldridge & Roesch, 2007). Although there are many definitions and theoretical models used to understand this construct, it is usually understood as cognitive and/or behavioral efforts to reduce or tolerate situations that are perceived as stressful to an individual (Aldridge & Roesch, 2007). Coping responses are cognitions and actions children and adolescents purposefully engage in to manage and adapt to stress (Compas et al., 2012). Lazarus and Folkman (1984) defined coping as “constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are
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Emotion-focused coping is an attempt to control internal demands and conflicts such as stressful emotions. Emotion-focused strategies include seeking social support for emotional reasons and positive cognitive reappraisal (Aldridge & Roesch, 2007). Problem-focused coping is an attempt to control external demands or decrease the mismatch between the individual and the individual’s environment. Strategies within this category include time-management, obtaining instrumental support, and planful problem-solving (Aldridge & Roesch, 2007).
There is not a single coping strategy or dimensions that are considered optimal when dealing with pediatric cancer. The most appropriate coping strategy and process should be appraised according to its impact on the desired outcome (Compas et al., 2012). Various coping strategies employed to handle disease- and treatment-related psychological distress have been reported in the literature (Clarke, 2006; Engvall, Mattson, & von Essen, 2011) and it has been proposed that age, gender, time since diagnosis, and temperament influence the type of coping strategy children and adolescents use (Miller et al., 2009; Phipps, 2007).
In addition to the problem-focused/emotion-focused taxonomy, a taxonomy that emphasizes the orientation of the coping strategy has been investigated in the literature (Aldridge & Roesch, 2007; Miller et al., 2009). Different descriptors have been used to explain how
The first method of coping, Cognitive coping, is described as when one focuses on the positive instead on the negative. While this is a strategy that is difficult for myself I think it is a very good way to cope with strain. The second method of coping, Behavioral coping, is when one takes action to target the source of strain and can be conventional or criminal. This strategy is the one I use about half the time, for me it’s usually the strain of homework
Ph.D. degree acquired authors, Ronald L. Blount, Ronald T. Brown, and Natalie C. Frank, conducted a study focused on predictors of the overall psychological adjustment in children who are battling cancer. They concentrated on anxiety and depression levels and how the child externalizes behavior. There were 83 children who participated in this study of ages ranging from 7 to 18 years. After obtaining parental and child consent, the researchers proceeded to give each
Leventhal et al. did not identify the type of their theory. However, the words and sentences that they mentioned in the CSM can categorize as a middle-range theory. The CSM was proposed to provide the framework for depicting the self-regulation when individuals have to encounter stress caused by an illness and understanding the processes involved in problem-coping. Leventhal et al. described that the CSM consists of three core concepts: representation of illness, coping, and coping appraisal. The relationship between the concepts was presented in the parallel processing system that interact as the individual adapts to each specific situation. These processes lead individuals to seek health care for acute illnesses and manage their illness for chronic conditions. Additionally, the CSM was used as a theoretical framework in research and applied in practice, particularly psychological, behavioral, and nursing fields. The results of study can make possible intervention which would help patients develop valid coping processes. Consequently, The CSM can be classified as a middle-range predictive theory.
I needed to reduce my stress level if I wanted to get an A in the class. I used two coping strategies to overcome the stress I had. The strategies were emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping. First, I decided to look
In the article “Assessing Coping Strategies: A Theoretically Based Approach” by Carver, Scheier, and Weintraub, it states the different types of coping responses for stress. There are three main types: problem-focused coping, emotional-focused coping and “less useful” coping responses. And there are subtypes for each one of them. To figure out what type of coping one uses during stress, one can take a coping questionnaire. I took this questionnaire and found out that the major coping responses I use are two types of emotional-focused coping and one less useful coping response.
It is very important to have strong copying mechanisms and adequate social support to deal with PTSD and other psychology issues. Using emotional and avoidant coping skills, such as denial, mental disengagement, wishful thinking and emotional suppression may not helpful because it can hinder the recovery process. This can even contribute to long term problems for the nurses who experienced a traumatic event. In contrast, problem-focused coping helps the nurses to focus on the causes of stress in
Despite the fact that both theorists targeted goals aim to decrease adverse stressors and unwanted stimuli through interventions that enable a patient to maintain optimal health by means of positive coping and prompt identification of stressor, their means to attain patient’s goal are a somehow dissimilar. Neuman’s system model interventions are targeted towards “primary, secondary, or tertiary prevention” (Hood, 2014, p. 168) with the aim to fortify the person’s lines of defense. Although, Roy’s adaption model interventions are also aimed to improve coping mechanisms and to reduce stressors, they are specific to the improving adaption modes and optimizing adaption levels of the individual due to the combination of stressors such as focal, contextual, and residual (Hood,
Coping with Pediatric Cancer: Strategies Employed by Children and Their Parents to Manage Cancer-Related Stressors During Treatment has each pediatric participant and caregiver answer three questions. “The first question stating, what was hard for you/your child when you found out about the diagnosis? Second, what was hard for you/ your child during the cancer treatment? Lastly, what things do you do to cope/how do you help your child cope during the cancer and or cancer treatment? (Hildenbrand et al., 2011).” Each question is followed up
This essay demonstrates my understanding of the psychological theories and concepts which were discussed in lectures as I have applied this knowledge to the case example. I have employed two psychological topics such as the Humanistic perspective of personality and Stress and Coping theory.
Mental illness surrounds our population today and is one of the leading causes to homelessness. Homelessness has been an ongoing social issue in America that has generally increased throughout the years. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2009), 20 to 25% of the homeless population in the United States suffers from some form of severe mental illness. A mental illness affects those individuals day to day functioning from their physical heath to daily interactions. One of the most challenging trials for people with mental illnesses is formulating relationships.
Are culture and religion the same? Some may say yes and others may disagree and I believe that culture is in religion. When talking about culture and religion, I am referring to what we talked about in class when we said that culture is a group environment, has customs, and norms that people follow and then we said that religion is beliefs, has an outside force with internal impact, guided morals, and metaphysics. As you can tell, religion and culture sound similar but are they really? In this paper I will be talking about how religion and culture shape gender norms, how they both shape societal gender norms, and if it is right for culture and religion to shape who we as people have become.
As established in the National Cancer Institute, “Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide for children and adolescents in America, accounting for more than 91,250 children that lose their lives to this disease” (National Cancer Institute). Cancer is not considered a terminal illness, but more of a chronic illness because of the intense treatment that the individual has to endure. As a result of this treatment the chances of survival for children suffering from pediatric cancer has increased around 80 percent. The increment in the survival rate has made it possible for many parents to not have to go through the acceptance that they are about to lose their child to a terminal illness, but have coping strategies that will make them adapt to the fear of the reoccurrence of that illness. This illness has a great impact on the patient as well as the family because not only do they have to adapt to this illness physically, but also mentally. Research has shown that there are both short term and long term effects that come into effect when the child is both in treatment and also years after the treatment. The type of cancers that these adolescents have to endure range from leukemia, brain tumors and other cancerous tumors that have appeared in recent medical studies. These tumors can either be benignant, an acute case that is non-cancerous or malignant, a cancerous case that will need intense treatment over an extended period of time.While many would say there is more of a
According to the test my most prominent coping styles are planning and active coping because they were both the highest scores I got on the coping test. The ways I use to cope are healthy and effective ways to manage stressors because I don’t use them in negative ways. Planning can be positive or negative because you could make a plan of action with negative or positive consequences. Active coping can exhaust you if you concentrate too much effort into handling the stress, but has positive consequences if you take it slow by going one step at a time. My score of mental disengagement was fairly high, but not the highest I scored on within this coping test.
Individuals confronted with serious health issues or suffering from chronic illnesses are vulnerable to poor coping adaptations. Franks and Roesch conclude that individuals in a chronic state of disease who perceived their illness in a positive way were more likely to use coping strategies. However, individuals who perceived their illness negatively are engaged in denial and avoidance (Giddens, 2012). In my current clinical setting, majority of Veterans suffer from one or more critical life-threatening and advanced stages of major chronic diseases including cancer. Major chronic diseases, specifically in advanced stage with their associated multi-morbidities require support in self-care health management and incorporation of the measures (e.g.
Coping strategies refer to the specific efforts, both behavioral and psychological, that people employ to master, tolerate, reduce or minimize stressful events. There are two general coping strategies which have been distinguished. Problem-focused strategies are efforts to do something active to alleviate stressful circumstances, where as emotion-focused coping strategies involve efforts to regulate the emotional consequences of stressful or potentially stressful events. Typically, people use both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping in their stressful episodes, which suggests that both types of coping are useful for most stressful events (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980).