Strengthening sense of coherence: opportunities for theory building in health promotion: Fig. 1:

Abstract

Sense of coherence (SOC) reflects a coping capacity of people to deal with everyday life stressors and consists of three elements: comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness. SOC is often considered to be a stable entity that is developed in young adulthood and stabilizes around the age of 30. Recent studies have questioned this stability of SOC and some studies report on interventions that have been successful in strengthening SOC in adult populations. Currently, however, there is no clear understanding of the mechanisms underlying SOC. As a consequence, it is a challenge to determine what is needed in health promotion activities to strengthen SOC. This article aims to explore the mechanisms underlying SOC as these insights may underpin future health promotion efforts. An exploration of the salutogenic model suggests two important mechanisms: the behavioural and the perceptual. The behavioural mechanism highlights the possibility to empower people to use their resources in stressful situations. The perceptual mechanism suggests that, in order for people to deal with life stressors, it is essential that they are able to reflect on their understanding of the stressful situation and the resources that are available. Based on these mechanisms, we suggest that both empowerment and reflection processes, which are interdependent, may be relevant for health promotion activities that aim to strengthen SOC. The successful application of resources to deal with stressors is not only likely to have a positive influence on health, but also creates consistent and meaningful life experiences that can positively reinforce SOC levels.

Public Health Citizen Science; Perceived Impacts on Citizen Scientists: A Case Study in a Low-Income Neighbourhood in the Netherlands

“…No significant change of SOC scores occurred. Although other studies have demonstrated that an increase of SOC scores is possible, this requires intensive interventions focused on empowerment and development of reflection capabilities (Super et al 2015, Kähönen et al 2012, Vastamäki et al 2009). The "Healthy Slotermeer" project probably lacked that high degree of intensiveness.…”

The role of community sports coaches in creating optimal social conditions for life skill development and transferability – a salutogenic perspective

“…In addition, researchers have begun to study how SOC develops in childhood and early adulthood (García-Moya, Moreno, & Jiménez-Iglesias, 2013;Marsh, Clinkinbeard, Thomas, & Evans, 2007). However, further research is necessary to examine the factors that contribute to the development of SOC, the role of various developmental contexts in building up SOC (García-Moya et al, 2013) and the possibilities for strengthening SOC explicitly, for example in sport-for-development settings (Super, Wagemakers, Picavet, Verkooijen, & Koelen, 2015). As sport is often seen as a promising setting for positive youth development, taking a salutogenic approach we aim to complement the current literature in the field by investigating how community sports coaches create optimal social conditions for life skill development and transferability.…”

Sense of coherence and work-related patterns of behavior and experience among faculty nurse educators in Egypt

“…This in turn, may empower individuals to identify resources to develop more realistic goals and priorities and interpret their efforts as worthy and meaningful in mastering difficult situations. [38]…”