Browsing by Subject "Religious coping"

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    Religious and Secular Coping Strategies and Mortality Risk among Older Adults
    (Springer, 2015-01-03) McDougle, Lindsey; Konrath, Sara H.; Walk, Marlene; Handy, Femida; School of Public and Environmental Affairs, IUPUI
    Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, the purpose of this study is twofold. First, the study identifies coping strategies used by older adults. Second, the study examines the impact of older adults’ chosen coping strategies on mortality reduction. The study focuses specifically on differences in the use of religious and secular coping strategies among this population. The findings suggest that although coping strategies differ between those who self-classify as religious and those who self-classify as nonreligious, for both groups social approaches to coping (e.g., attending church and volunteering) are more likely than individual approaches (e.g., praying or active/passive coping) to reduce the risk of mortality. The most efficacious coping strategies, however, are those matched to characteristics of the individual.
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    The Validity And Reliability Of The Distress Thermometer In Family Surrogates Of ICU Patients
    (Oxford University Press, 2022) O'Brien, Emma; Burke, Emily; Slaven, James; Taylor, Tracy; Torke, Alexia; Biostatistics and Health Data Science, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
    Brief, reliable assessment tools are highly valued in both research and clinical settings. The single-item Distress Thermometer (DT) asks participants to rank their overall level of distress from zero to ten. Similar measures of distress perform well in oncology populations, but the validity of the DT has not been well tested with other populations. To determine its validity and reliability, we analyzed data from family surrogates (n=188) of critically ill ICU patients. Surrogates were asked to rate their distress during the first four days of the patient’s ICU stay and 6-8 weeks after discharge (n=127). Data were analyzed using Spearman non-parametric correlation due to the distributions of the data. DT scores at both baseline and follow-up were significantly correlated with anxiety (GAD-7: correlation coefficient (ρ)=.527, p<.0001; ρ=.543, p<.0001, respectively), depression (PHQ-9: ρ=.480, p<.0001; ρ=.399, p=.0002), distress (Kessler-6: ρ=.477, p<.0001; ρ=.528, p<.0001), and negative religious coping (ρ=.149, p=.0426; ρ=.238, p=.0074). Results also indicated that spiritual well-being at baseline and follow-up (FACIT: ρ=-.391, p<.0001, ρ=-.443, p<.0001) and positive religious coping at baseline (RCOPE: ρ=-.164, p=.0253) have an inverse relationship with overall distress. At baseline, surrogates with better positive religious coping and/or more involvement in organizational religious activity (ρ=-.189, p=.0106) were more likely to report lower distress. The DT could be an efficient, single item predictor of outcomes that impact patient and family care. Future research could confirm its validity as a measure of distress, in a variety of clinical populations and environments that could inform clinical care for patients and families.