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    Coping with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic in the oldest-old population
    (Springer Nature B.V., 2022-12) Gerhards SK; Pabst A; Röhr S; Luppa M; Riedel-Heller SG
    The aim of the study is to investigate psychosocial factors that are associated with positive and negative coping with stress, as well as with worries about and perceived threat by COVID-19 to enable us to provide adequate support for oldest-old individuals. A paper–pencil-based survey assessed COVID-19 worries and perceived threat, depression, anxiety, somatization, social support, loneliness, resilience, positive and negative coping in a sample of n = 197 oldest-old individuals (78–100 years). Linear multivariate and binary logistic regression analyses were conducted. Individuals with high levels of resilience were more likely to feel self-efficient when coping with stress. High levels of depression, anxiety and loneliness were associated with feeling more helpless when coping with stress. However, oldest-old individuals who felt lonely also experienced situations where they felt competent in stress coping. Being male and experiencing high levels of social support was more likely associated with high levels of worries due to COVID-19. Increased age and higher levels of depression were associated with lower levels of perceived personal threat, whereas higher somatization scores were more likely associated with higher perceived personal threat. Findings suggest that mental health factors may shape the way oldest-old individuals cope with pandemic-related stress. Resilience might be an important factor to take into account when targeting an improvement in positive coping with stress. Oldest-old individuals who have higher levels of depression, anxiety and feel lonely may be supported by adapting their coping skill repertoire to reduce the feeling of helplessness when coping with stress.
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    Posttraumatic Growth and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in People with HIV
    (Springer Nature, 2022-11) Chi D; de Terte I; Gardner D
    Receiving a diagnosis of HIV can be challenging. People with HIV (PWH) can experience high levels of distress, as well as some positive psychological changes associated with post-traumatic growth. However, the mechanisms which underlying the association of a highly stressful event (i.e., being diagnosed with HIV) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are under-explored, and this is the focus of the study. Cross-sectional survey data were provided by 77 PWH living in New Zealand. An analysis examined the roles of deliberate rumination and coping strategies as serial mediators of the associations between event centrality and PTG and PTSSs. The relationships between event centrality and PTG and PTSSs were found to be sequentially mediated by deliberate rumination and avoidance coping, but not by deliberate rumination and active coping. Further analyses explored active coping and deliberate rumination as parallel mediators, with avoidance coping as a subsequent mediator, between event centrality and PTG and PTSSs. However, these analyses were not supported. The findings indicate that the more participants appraised the HIV diagnosis as central, the greater PTG they perceived; however, the more they deliberately ruminated on it, and the more avoidance coping they adopted, the less PTG and greater PTSSs they perceived. Future studies need to explore the relationships of event centrality and coping and their associations with PTG and PTSSs.
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    Journeys in understanding : finding meaning in the experience of cancer : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1996) Rowsell, Bridget
    Experiencing serious illness holds significance in peoples' lives in ways that go beyond the actual medical condition. Research has found that finding meaning in traumatic life events, such as serious and life threatening illness, is an important part of coping. Having cancer is widely agreed to be the kind of event that would be very traumatic for almost anyone. There may be difficulty in relating to such an event without at the same time experiencing a sense of loss of meaning in life. The focus of the study was on the processes of finding meaning and aspects of the experience that may impact, either positively or negatively, on the ability to find meaning. Five male and six female adults were interviewed about their personal experience of having cancer. An interpretive phenomenological approach was used in order to be open to the structures of meanings in individual lived experience. Findings showed that apart from differences in individual contexts that impacted on the nature of the experience of cancer, the quality of interactions were influential in finding meaning in what had happened. Interconnectedness with others was vital for a sense of self-worth, belonging and commitment to life. The experience of suffering meant that people were brought face to face with the vulnerability of human life. Regaining a sense of life as meaningful was a process involving the integration of the illness implications into perceptions of the self, others and life in general. Through personally experiencing the reality of human vulnerability and the limits of personal control there grew possibilities for a greater acceptance of life as it is, increased tolerance for others and a sense of communality with them, and a growth in self awareness. Personal control was regained through taking responsibility over choices of how to respond to such an event. Regaining control in ways that were achievable signalled an acceptance too of those things that were beyond control. There were re-evaluations about what was important in life. A general change in life focus incorporated the realities of what had happened, thus making them more understandable. A process for finding meaning in the experience of cancer is suggested, and aspects of the experience of illness that are influential in this process are proposed. The search for meaning in serious illness is an ongoing process and participants were at different stages in the journey of understanding. Greater understanding of the lived experience of cancer helps in raising general levels of sensitivity and awareness of the personal crisis that going through such a serious illness means.
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    Personality styles and coping strategies : the relationships between sociotropy/autonomy, coping, and mood : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2000) Parkhill, Gillian Mary
    Beck's (1983) personality-event congruence hypothesis proposes that individuals high in the personality constructs of sociotropy and autonomy are vulnerable to the development of depression when facing stressful life events that are congruent with their personality dimension. The present study investigated if the stronger empirical support for Beck's hypothesis for sociotropy, than for autonomy, is due to differences in coping strategies used by sociotropic and autonomous people. Using a cross-sectional retrospective research design, with a non-clinical student sample, the present study tested the hypotheses that people with different levels of sociotropy/autonomy use different coping strategies, and that coping mediates the relationship between sociotropy/autonomy and mood in the face of stressful events. The roles of gender and social support in that relationship were also explored. While sociotropy/autonomy levels did not affect coping patterns found between interpersonal and achievement events, sociotropy/autonomy was found to influence coping in general. Participants with low levels of sociotropy and autonomy showed decreased use of self-control, accepting responsibility, and escape-avoidance coping. The coping strategies of self-control and escape-avoidance mediated the relationship between sociotropy/autonomy and positive affect, while escape-avoidance mediated the relationship between sociotropy/autonomy and negative affect. Women had higher sociotropy scores than men, and although participants low in both sociotropy and autonomy reported higher levels of social support, no gender differences in social support were found. Social support had a positive influence on positive affect and a negative influence on negative affect. Men used more planful problem-solving than women, but the gender differences in coping were unrelated to coping differences found between the different sociotropy and autonomy levels. These findings are discussed within the framework of the personality-event congruence hypothesis.
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    The role of personality and coping on the well-being of South African immigrants : a thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2000) Pietersen, Clara
    This thesis explores and researches the outcome variables of loneliness, depression, well-being and anxiety in terms of immigration. It investigates the impact and relationships of demographics, personality and coping on these outcome variables. The research sample consisted of South African immigrants who had lived in New Zealand for six years or less. The research collected quantitative data through a questionnaire. Participants were acquired through the South African New Zealand Trust (SANZ) and by word of mouth, using a snowballing technique. The questionnaire was distributed by post to willing participants. The questionnaire consisted of six scales: the revised UCLA Loneliness scale, the General Health Questionnaire, the Beck's Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the NEO-FFI and a coping scale consisting of items from the Cybernetic Coping Scale and the Cope Scales. In addition to the scales it included questions concerning demographics. Overall, these immigrants experienced normal levels of loneliness, anxiety, depression and well-being. Significant differences in the outcome variables were found for gender, marital status, employment status, pertinent job skills/qualifications, being a member of SANZ, involvement in community activities and distribution of friends. Significant differences were also found for demographics in terms of personality and coping. The predictive ability of personality and coping towards the outcome variables was evaluated. Neuroticism was found to be a significant predictor of the outcome variables, whereas the other personality traits and coping were not significant predictors of the outcome variables.
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    Paramedics' understandings of managing personal reactions during emergency responses : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Ryburn, Annabelle
    The repeated exposure to potentially traumatic experiences is inherent within the field of emergency response work. Traditionally research focuses on what responders do to ‘cope’ with their reactions during emergency responses, and attempts to predict which ‘personality types’ may ‘cope’ better with this repeated exposure. This type of research leads to recommendations of ‘best practice coping’, which are often based on theoretical models of emotional processing and devoid of contextual relevance. This study investigated further than what responders do to manage reactions, and sought to understand how and why. It utilised individual interviews, focus groups and ambulance shift observation to explore how a group of St John paramedics constructed managing their reactions during and after emergency response situations. The study examined how reaction management is understood, and what options are perceived to be accessible when social, historical and cultural contexts are considered. The findings revealed that the paramedics’ discursive constructions regarding reaction management related to four key areas of understanding. These areas corresponded to the chronological process of emergency responding. The paramedics’ constructions started with conceptualisations of their job role and the expectations that came with it, then evolved through to incident response, post-incident reflection, and finally to support-seeking. The findings across these areas suggest that strategies described in previous research as ‘negative’ or ‘risky’ are oversimplifications. These individual strategies often exist as a component of a broader strategy to facilitate functioning in a response situation. It was concluded that the most important element of reaction management for the paramedics was ability to find acceptance for response incident outcomes. This understanding shifted the ‘problem area’ into the post-incident timeframe and onto issues of accessibility and acceptability of using peer and psychological support to facilitate acceptance. The implications of this research include understanding the necessity for tailored psychoeducation regarding reaction management at St John which is both functionally and contextually relevant. Additionally, the research highlights the need to address the ‘social risks’ attached to support-seeking at the St John organisation.
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    Coping in caregivers of family members with traumatic brain injury and the effects on the caregivers' quality of life : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2012) Klum, Maren Annette
    Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) not only affects the patient but also the family, which is a vital part of the rehabilitation process. Utilising the stress, appraisal, and coping theory developed by Lazarus and Folkman (1984) this study investigated coping in caregivers of a family member with TBI in New Zealand. Most previous research has focused only on psychological morbidity as an outcome measure. However, multiple areas of a caregiver’s life can be affected and a variety of factors can play a role in how caregivers cope. Quality of Life (QoL) is a multidimensional construct that allows for an assessment in physical, psychological, social, and environmental domains. In addition, changes in coping strategies over time were investigated. The hypothesis that emotion-focused coping was related to higher levels of depression and problem-focused coping to lower levels of depression and anxiety was supported. Against expectations, seeking social support was related to higher levels of anxiety. Further findings showed that depression and anxiety were negatively related to QoL and was lower in all domains than in the general population. Emotion-focused coping was negatively related to psychological and environmental QoL, and problem-focused coping was positively related to environmental QoL. In addition, the coping subscales showed a variety of relationships to psychological distress and individual QoL domains. This underlined the importance of investigating individual coping strategies as well as using the multidimensional construct of QoL as an outcome measure. Finally, emotion-focused coping was used most frequently by caregivers in the early years following injury and problem-focused coping most frequently in the later years. The findings are of both clinical and theoretical importance because they add to the understanding of coping in caregivers, how specific coping strategies are related to psychological distress and QoL, and how they change over time. The discussion considers these findings and how they make an important contribution to caregiving research in this population.
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    The process of coping : an alternative examination : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1995) Foster, Helen Marguerite; Foster, Helen Marguerite
    The area of research into coping is complex and challenging and there are no agreed methods to examine the facets of coping behaviour. The present research aimed to capture the complexity of the experience of coping as a multi-faceted, dynamic, flowing phenomenon, and to explore the way people experience the changes that occur over time as a stressful event evolves. Coping was conceptualised as a process which is initiated when a person first becomes aware that she or he is under stress and continues to flow and change until there is an indication that an outcome has been reached. The theoretical framework was based on the transactional perspective of Lazarus and Folkman (1984) and included the concepts of appraisal, coping strategies, reactions and outcome. An alternative methodology was used which corresponded to the theoretical framework and attempted to capture how people coped with stressful events individually and collectively. The analyses provided a finer-grained examination of the entire coping process. Two studies were conducted to examine the coping process over time. In the first study, ten participants reported their experiences of coping with short-term stress in daily stressful events. In the second study, nine women reported their experience of coping with the longer term event of gynaecological surgery. They reported their experiences of coping at five phases: prior to the surgery; during hospitalisation: at two stages of the recovery phase: and following the medical clearance. The results from the first study showed that there was considerable variability in how the participants coped with daily events. In the surgery study it was found that those who had a positive subjective outcome experienced coping as a process differently to those who had a negative subjective outcome. The results from both studies showed that specific patterns of responses between the appraisals, coping strategies, and reactions flowed reciprocally and influenced the outcome. It was found that some patterns were variable. These were considered to be the continual attempts to manage the stressful event, and the effectiveness of these attempts depended on whether the coping process was positive or negative. Other patterns of response appeared to be consistent and these were established in the initial stages. They tended to be maintained over time and were considered to be the main influence in the outcome. When the coping process was generally appraised as positive, then there was a positive outcome. When the coping process was appraised as negative, there were positive attempts at coping but these were outweighed by the negative influences and there was usually a negative outcome. It was concluded that the process of coping is a continually flowing experience which is influenced mainly by cognitive appraisals which are established during the initial stages of a stressful event. It is the specific combinations of appraisals, coping strategies and reactions which constitute the coping process and influence the outcome. The complexity of the experience of coping and specific patterns of responses can be captured in more detail by the use of an alternative methodology which gathers more detailed information and analyses the data at an individual level as well as at the group level. There were limitations to the methodology used and these are discussed, as are future directions for research.
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    Suicidal ideation in a non-clinical sample : cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships with minor stressors, depression, hopelessness and coping behaviour : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1994) Beaumont, Graeme Rex; Beaumont, Graeme Rex
    The intention of this study was to gain a greater understanding of the way minor stressors, depression, hopelessness and coping behaviour relate to suicidal ideation in a non-clinical sample. Little is known about the mechanisms through which minor stressors impact on suicidal ideation. This study examined the roles of depression and hopelessness as potential mechanisms through which minor stressors could influence suicidal ideation. The way a person copes with stress affects health outcomes but this has yet to be demonstrated with suicidal ideation. This study examined the influence coping behaviour has on the relationship between minor stressors and suicidal ideation. The mechanisms through which coping behaviour impacts on suicidal ideation are largely unknown. Therefore, the possibility that coping behaviour interacts with minor stressors to influence depression and hopelessness and thus suicidal ideation was investigated. The use of prospective research designs in the study of suicidal ideation is rare, but longitudinal validation of cross-sectional findings is important in furthering our understanding. This study also examined whether the hypothesised relationships between current suicidal ideation and minor stressors, depression, hopelessness and coping behaviour extended to the prediction of further suicidal ideation. The subjects were 402 undergraduate university students who volunteered to complete measures of suicidal ideation, minor stressors, depression, hopelessness and coping behaviour on two occasions five months apart. The results showed that minor stressors, depression, hopelessness and emotion-focused coping were all correlated with suicidal ideation. Depression and hopelessness, however, were the best predictors of suicidal ideation. Depression was a better predictor than hopelessness, and also mediated the relationship between minor stressors and suicidal ideation. Emotion-focused coping interacted with minor stressors to modify their relationship with suicidal ideation and depression. In both cases the greater use of emotion-focused coping to deal with high levels of stressors, was associated with higher levels of suicidal ideation and depression. The findings for current suicidal ideation generally did not extend to the prediction of further suicidal ideation. Prior suicidal ideation proved to be the best predictor of later suicidal ideation. Concurrent levels of minor stressors, depression, hopelessness and coping behaviour were better predictors of further suicidal ideation than were their prior levels. The results suggest that depression is more important than hopelessness in predicting current suicidal ideation in non-clinical samples. Depression is the mechanism through which minor stressors influence current suicidal ideation and coping behaviour impacts on suicidal ideation through its influence on the relationship between minor stressors and depression. Further suicidal ideation appears to be influenced more by the concurrent states of minor stressors, depression, hopelessness and coping behaviour, than by their prior states. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to the development of an interactive model of suicidal ideation, and suggestions for future research are made.
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    Principals, deputy principals and work stress : the role of coping and leisure : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Organisational Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1996) Trenberth, Linda Dorothy; Trenberth, Linda Dorothy
    It is now well established that stress in the workplace can adversely affect productivity, absenteeism, worker turnover and employee health and well-being. Nowhere in New Zealand does this appear to be more apparent than in the educational sector, a sector that has undergone enormous legislative and organisational change during the last eight years. Research has been carried out on teachers but little research has been concerned with principals and deputy principals, the implementors of this change. Even less research has explored how they cope with or manage the stress they experience in the face of increasing work demands. Studies have investigated a range of activities but have, within the context of work and stress, largely ignored the area of leisure and its role as a coping strategy. Within the context of transformation and change, the aims of the present study were to identify the sources of stress for principals and deputy principals, their coping behaviours, and the importance of leisure as a means of coping, and then to systematically examine the relationship between these variables. A questionnaire was developed and sent to 1042 principals and deputy principals of secondary schools throughout New Zealand. Because a number of reviews of work stress and coping have highlighted the issue of measurement as one of particular concern, the measures used in this study were rigorously evaluated before their relationships with different outcome variables were explored. The evaluations produced a robust, replicable and reliable two factor structure for both the coping and leisure measures using the FACTOREP procedure. These results also suggested that the constructs of coping and leisure are best measured in terms of problem and emotion focused coping and active and passive leisure. The implications of these findings for measurement practices were discussed. The results of the regression analyses that followed showed that emotion focused and problem focused coping, as well as having main effects, moderated the relationships between different stressors and stress outcomes. For emotion focused coping the relationship between different stressors and their outcomes became more pronounced for individuals making less use of emotion focused coping than for individuals making frequent use of emotion focused coping. For problem focused coping the effect was such that the relation between stressors and outcomes became generally more pronounced for individuals making frequent use of problem focused coping than for individuals making less use of problem focused coping. Passive recuperative leisure needs were associated directly with stress reactions, such that the more serious the distress the greater the perceived importance of passive leisure. However the importance of passive recuperative leisure was not found to moderate the relationship between stressors and stress reactions. Active challenging leisure needs had no effect on stress reactions cither independently or interactively with work stressors. The implications of these findings were discussed and some directions for future research were indicated.