Psychological and neuropsychological predictors of coping patterns by patients with multiple sclerosis

Abstract

To determine the relative contribution of psychological and neuropsychological (NP) variables to the prediction of patterns of coping with disease-related stressors and satisfaction with their coping efforts, 56 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) were administered the Ways of Coping Checklist, the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, and a battery of NP tests chosen for their sensitivity to MS. Higher levels of psychological distress were associated with greater use of emotion-focused coping strategies and reduced perceived effectiveness of the coping strategies employed. Psychological distress was not related to the use of problem-focused strategies and NP variables did not predict coping style or effectiveness. MS patients who display heightened psychological distress may be good candidates for psychotherapeutic interventions aimed at improving perceived coping effectiveness.

Mood and self-esteem of persons with multiple sclerosis following an exacerbation

“…Particularly for the exacerbation group, it was expected that the coping strategies adopted by respondents would predict mood and self-esteem over time. Most previous studies have examined the cross-sectional relationships between coping and adjustment, and so the level of stability in the adjustment variable could not be partialled out in the analyses [10,12]. However, Pakenham [11] did find that better psychological adjustment over a 12-month period among persons with MS was predicted by high levels of problem-focused coping and low levels of emotionfocused coping at Time 1.…”

“…There are a number of studies that support this proposal. For example, Jean et al [10] found that persons with MS who used more emotion-focused coping strategies (e.g., denial, hoping the problem would just go away) were more likely to experience psychological distress than those who used problem-focused coping strategies (e.g., developing strategies to deal with the situation). Similar results were obtained by both Pakenham [11] and Pakenham et al [12].…”

Depression and multiple sclerosis: Review of a lethal combination

“…In cross-sectional surveys, emotion-focused coping has been related to lower self-esteem [41], global distress [42][43][44], and depression [13,15,[45][46]. Similar results were found in studies that examined the relationship between coping styles and depression over time [47][48].…”

“…Problemfocused coping has been linked to higher self-esteem [41], global distress [42], and depression [15,45], but other studies have failed to find a correlation [13,[43][44]. Longitudinal studies have sometimes found associations between problem-focused coping and depression.…”

Psychometric evaluation of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire as applied to clinical and nonclinical groups

“…There is also some concern regarding the construct validity of the WCQ because the existing evidence is based primarily on exploratory factor analyses [7]. In recent years, there has been a growing use of the WCQ in clinical settings involving cancer [8,9], multiple sclerosis [10], Parkinson's disease [11], fibromyalgia [12], stroke [13,14], chronic fatigue syndrome [15], and spinal cord injury [16]. As was the case for the studies on healthy subjects, studies performed on patients have not confirmed the construct validity of the WCQ, nor are they in agreement regarding alternative factor structures [8,15,17 -19].…”