O presente estudo tem por objetivo investigar as modalidades de enfrentamento religioso em homens portadores de HIV/AIDS pertencentes às religiões católica e evangélica pentecostal/neopentecostal. Após seleção de 50 católicos e 30 evangélicos, usuários de um serviço de atendimento a pacientes soropositivos em São Paulo, aplicou-se uma escala de coping religioso/espiritual e um formulário sobre religiosidade e história clínica da doença. As principais estratégias de coping apresentadas pelos sujeitos foram analisadas e comparadas entre os grupos católico e evangélico, através de mensuração estatística e da literatura sobre coping religioso. Estudos sobre as características psicossociais da população católica e evangélica no Brasil também foram utilizadas nas discussões sobre estilos preponderantes de coping em cada grupo. Tanto entre católicos quanto evangélicos houve maior uso de estratégias de enfrentamento que envolviam posicionamento positivo frente a Deus e menor uso de estratégias de reavaliação negativa de Deus. Os resultados mostraram uso maior por parte dos evangélicos de estilos que envolvem fatores positivos de transformação de si, ações em busca do outro institucional, busca pessoal de conhecimento espiritual, além de fatores negativos tais como posicionamento negativo frente a Deus e reavaliação negativa do significado. As considerações finais levantam tópicos sobre enfrentamento religioso na realidade brasileira e sua importância enquanto recurso multidimensional na vida do portador de HIV. / The present study has the purpose to investigate the ways of religious coping among HIV/AIDS male patients affiliated to Catholic and Pentecostal/Neo-Pentecostal religion. After a selection of 50 Catholics and 30 Protestants Pentecostals, users from a HIV+ health service in São Paulo, Brazil, a religious/spiritual coping scale was applied and other data about religiosity and diseases clinical history were collected. The main coping strategies revealed by the subjects was analyzed and compared between the Catholic and Pentecostal groups through statistical measures and the religious coping literature reviewed. Studies on the psychosocial aspects of the Catholic and Pentecostal population in Brazil also were used in the discussions about the main coping styles in each group. Catholics and Pentecostals employed more strategies involved in a positive posture toward God and less use of negative reappraisal of God strategies. The Pentecostals employed more positive styles related to achievement of life transformation, search for religious institutions, search for spiritual knowledge, moreover negative factors such as negative posture toward God and negative reappraisal of meaning. The final conclusions raise issues about religious coping in the Brazilian culture and its importance whilst multidimensional resource in the HIV patients life.

The present study aimed (1) to examine possible influence of demographic variables of age, gender, familial monthly income, relationship status, mother&rsquo / s education, father&rsquo / s education on Parenting Styles, Schema Domains, Schema Coping Styles, and Psychopathology/Life Satisfaction / (2) to examine associated factors of Schema Domains, Schema Coping Styles, Psychopathology/Life Satisfaction / (3) to examine the mediator role of Schema Domains in the relationship between Parenting Styles and Psychopathology/Life Satisfaction / (4) to examine the mediator role of Schema Coping Styles in the relationship between Schema Domains and Psychopathology/Life Satisfaction. In order to fulfill these aims 404 people between the ages 18-42 participated in the study. According to results, negative parenting practices from both sources (i.e., mother, father) were found to be associated with stronger levels of schema domains. Furthermore, Impaired Limits/Exaggerated Standards and Impaired Autonomy/Other Directedness schema domains were found to be associated with Compensation schema coping style / while Disconnection/Rejection and Impaired Limits/Exaggerated Standards schema domains were found related to Avoidance schema coping style. After that, mother&rsquo / s parenting style, schema domains of Disconnection/Rejection, and Impaired Autonomy/Other Directedness were found to be significantly associated with depressive symptomatology. In addition, psychopathological symptoms were found to be associated with both parenting styles, schema domains of Disconnection/Rejection and Impaired Limits/Exaggerated Standards, and schema coping style of Avoidance. What is more, both parenting styles, schema domain of Disconnection/Rejection, were negatively / and compensation schema coping style was positively associated with satisfaction with life. As for the mediational analyses, schema domains mediated the relationship between parenting styles and psychopathology/life satisfaction / furthermore, schema coping styles mediated the relationship between schema domains and psychopathology/life satisfaction.

The aims of this study were to explore partners' experiences of living with a loved one with bipolar disorder and how they coped with these experiences. Another aim was to explore whether these individuals felt that Counselling Psychologists could play a role with care-giving tasks and their own psychological needs. Five individuals, who were currently living with, or had been living with, a partner with bipolar disorder, volunteered and participated in a semi-structured interview. These interviews were transcribed and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as described by Smith, Flowers and Larkin (2009). A table of super-ordinate and sub-ordinate themes was created as a result of this analysis. Partners' experiences are characterised by various phases which partners could move around and between. This was referred to as the 'cycle of changing illness awareness'. This theme adds to the existing literature. As partners moved around and between these phases they experienced different emotions, employed different coping strategies and had experiences of being 'in it together' interchangeably with being 'isolated and alone'. This research concludes that partners' experiences of caring for a loved one with bipolar disorder do not follow a linear, predictable path and as a result, professionals working with caregivers need to be aware of which phases of the 'cycle of changing illness awareness' partners are in when offering interventions. The analysis also suggests that partners cope differently when their loved one is manic and depressed. However, further exploration is still needed.

Biological invasions are a major threat to biodiversity world wide with annual economic costs up to 1.4 trillion dollars. The round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) is a particularly fierce invader that threatens ecological function of the Baltic Sea. Individual variation in behavioral traits that remain constant through time and context have been identified as crucial factors for explaining different parts of the invasion process. For example, asocial behavior facilitates dispersal from high density populations and comes with fitness benefits in low conspecific density. The latter is especially relevant, in an invasion context, following the initial colonization of a novel environment when population density usually is low. This thesis investigates the role of individual variation in phenotypic traits on species invasions. The main focus is on the effects of sociability, activity and boldness, but also including aggression and physiological stress tolerance, on dispersal tendency and selection at invasion fronts. To do this, we studied four round goby populations in the Baltic Sea, two of the most recently established and two of the oldest populations. In 2012 we demonstrated that asocial, active and bold round gobies are overrepresented at invasion fronts. Two years later we showed that dispersal from the new populations was led by individuals with high activity levels, while in all populations larger individuals dispersed. We also determined the length of the socalled lag-phase, between colonization and spread, in both newly established populations. The end of the lag-phase is hypothesized being triggered by high population density in the harbors leading to dispersal and subsequen colonization of the surrounding areas by small asocial individuals. In our final experiment, we present evidence of stress coping styles in round gobies, in which more aggressive individuals are also more stress tolerant and vice versa. Though we found no connection between stress coping and population age, we found that mortality was unaffected by population density and that the gobies became more aggressive and stress tolerant when kept in high density. To conclude, we have shown that: 1) individuals with high levels of activity, boldness and asociality are common at invasion fronts; 2) a lag phase occurs between colonization and spread in round goby invasions; 3) asocial individuals drive the spread from high density populations at the invasion front and; 4) round gobies adapt to high densities with high aggression and stress tolerance.

Since the publication of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) findings in 1996, governments internationally have been cognisant of the need for functional literacy skill training for large segments of the New Zealand working-age population (Culligan1, Arnold, Noble, & Sligo, 2004; Ministry of Education, 2001; OECD, 2000). Individuals with low literacy levels generally report negative prior experiences of formal learning environments that are due to and have contributed to their current functional literacy capability (for example, see Neubauer & Dusewicz, 1988; Ross, 1987, 1988; Tilley et al., 2006). The present study aimed to systematically investigate and measure the dispositional coping styles and strategies associated with differing prose literacy capabilities. The purpose of this project was to provide an understanding of the coping-literacy relationship as a first step toward the development of coping strategy training interventions specifically targeted at improving the educational experience (current and future) of low literacy individuals. Secondary aims of the current study included exploring the relationship between persistence and coping style, adaptability, and prose literacy; determining whether and how coping styles, adaptability, and prose literacy changed over time; and, assessing the relationship between prose literacy, coping style, adaptability, and post-course goal achievement. Fifty-six students in adult vocational programmes were interviewed pre- and post-course. At each time point assessments of dispositional coping style and strategies via use of the COPE tool (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989) were gathered, as were measures of emotional intelligence (including adaptability), and prose literacy score. Participants also took part in a semi-structured qualitative interview which gathered information on their educational and employment history, and goals post-course. Situational assessments of coping behaviours outside of the course were also gathered as part of a larger study for future analysis purposes and are outside the scope of this thesis. Respondents were also interviewed at three and six months post-course to determine achievement or non-achievement of post-course goals. Low prose literacy scores were significantly associated with more frequent use of emotionfocused coping strategies (particularly avoidance). Higher prose literacy scores were significantly associated with more frequent use of problem-focused coping strategies. Indicative data showed that non-persisting participants showed higher emotion-focused coping strategy use than their persisting counterparts alongside lower prose literacy scores. Further, emotionfocused coping, adaptability, and prose literacy score were found to change significantly over time. However, post-course goal achievement was not significantly associated with any of the variables of interest except bivariately with prose literacy. The model of transactional stress and coping (Lazarus, 1966; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and the control theory of self-regulation (Carver & Scheier, 1981, 2000) provided a framework for the discussion of the dispositional coping styles and strategies used by individuals of differing prose literacy ability. It was argued that a negative self-schema of the individual as a learner is developed through prior negative experiences of formal education. It was hypothesised that this negative self-schema, built from a low self-confidence and fear of educational failure and rejection, predisposed the individual to a heightened negative self-focus. This in turn was proposed to direct attention to the self and the associated emotional aspects of a response to a stressor, leading to a bias towards habitual coping strategies of avoidance and less frequent use of problem-focused strategies by this group. These findings and the associated interpretations have implications for the future development of coping strategy training interventions for individuals with low functional literacy competencies who wish to re-engage with formal education.

Since the publication of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) findings in 1996, governments internationally have been cognisant of the need for functional literacy skill training for large segments of the New Zealand working-age population (Culligan1, Arnold, Noble, & Sligo, 2004; Ministry of Education, 2001; OECD, 2000). Individuals with low literacy levels generally report negative prior experiences of formal learning environments that are due to and have contributed to their current functional literacy capability (for example, see Neubauer & Dusewicz, 1988; Ross, 1987, 1988; Tilley et al., 2006). The present study aimed to systematically investigate and measure the dispositional coping styles and strategies associated with differing prose literacy capabilities. The purpose of this project was to provide an understanding of the coping-literacy relationship as a first step toward the development of coping strategy training interventions specifically targeted at improving the educational experience (current and future) of low literacy individuals. Secondary aims of the current study included exploring the relationship between persistence and coping style, adaptability, and prose literacy; determining whether and how coping styles, adaptability, and prose literacy changed over time; and, assessing the relationship between prose literacy, coping style, adaptability, and post-course goal achievement. Fifty-six students in adult vocational programmes were interviewed pre- and post-course. At each time point assessments of dispositional coping style and strategies via use of the COPE tool (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989) were gathered, as were measures of emotional intelligence (including adaptability), and prose literacy score. Participants also took part in a semi-structured qualitative interview which gathered information on their educational and employment history, and goals post-course. Situational assessments of coping behaviours outside of the course were also gathered as part of a larger study for future analysis purposes and are outside the scope of this thesis. Respondents were also interviewed at three and six months post-course to determine achievement or non-achievement of post-course goals. Low prose literacy scores were significantly associated with more frequent use of emotionfocused coping strategies (particularly avoidance). Higher prose literacy scores were significantly associated with more frequent use of problem-focused coping strategies. Indicative data showed that non-persisting participants showed higher emotion-focused coping strategy use than their persisting counterparts alongside lower prose literacy scores. Further, emotionfocused coping, adaptability, and prose literacy score were found to change significantly over time. However, post-course goal achievement was not significantly associated with any of the variables of interest except bivariately with prose literacy. The model of transactional stress and coping (Lazarus, 1966; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and the control theory of self-regulation (Carver & Scheier, 1981, 2000) provided a framework for the discussion of the dispositional coping styles and strategies used by individuals of differing prose literacy ability. It was argued that a negative self-schema of the individual as a learner is developed through prior negative experiences of formal education. It was hypothesised that this negative self-schema, built from a low self-confidence and fear of educational failure and rejection, predisposed the individual to a heightened negative self-focus. This in turn was proposed to direct attention to the self and the associated emotional aspects of a response to a stressor, leading to a bias towards habitual coping strategies of avoidance and less frequent use of problem-focused strategies by this group. These findings and the associated interpretations have implications for the future development of coping strategy training interventions for individuals with low functional literacy competencies who wish to re-engage with formal education.

Since the publication of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) findings in 1996, governments internationally have been cognisant of the need for functional literacy skill training for large segments of the New Zealand working-age population (Culligan1, Arnold, Noble, & Sligo, 2004; Ministry of Education, 2001; OECD, 2000). Individuals with low literacy levels generally report negative prior experiences of formal learning environments that are due to and have contributed to their current functional literacy capability (for example, see Neubauer & Dusewicz, 1988; Ross, 1987, 1988; Tilley et al., 2006). The present study aimed to systematically investigate and measure the dispositional coping styles and strategies associated with differing prose literacy capabilities. The purpose of this project was to provide an understanding of the coping-literacy relationship as a first step toward the development of coping strategy training interventions specifically targeted at improving the educational experience (current and future) of low literacy individuals. Secondary aims of the current study included exploring the relationship between persistence and coping style, adaptability, and prose literacy; determining whether and how coping styles, adaptability, and prose literacy changed over time; and, assessing the relationship between prose literacy, coping style, adaptability, and post-course goal achievement. Fifty-six students in adult vocational programmes were interviewed pre- and post-course. At each time point assessments of dispositional coping style and strategies via use of the COPE tool (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989) were gathered, as were measures of emotional intelligence (including adaptability), and prose literacy score. Participants also took part in a semi-structured qualitative interview which gathered information on their educational and employment history, and goals post-course. Situational assessments of coping behaviours outside of the course were also gathered as part of a larger study for future analysis purposes and are outside the scope of this thesis. Respondents were also interviewed at three and six months post-course to determine achievement or non-achievement of post-course goals. Low prose literacy scores were significantly associated with more frequent use of emotionfocused coping strategies (particularly avoidance). Higher prose literacy scores were significantly associated with more frequent use of problem-focused coping strategies. Indicative data showed that non-persisting participants showed higher emotion-focused coping strategy use than their persisting counterparts alongside lower prose literacy scores. Further, emotionfocused coping, adaptability, and prose literacy score were found to change significantly over time. However, post-course goal achievement was not significantly associated with any of the variables of interest except bivariately with prose literacy. The model of transactional stress and coping (Lazarus, 1966; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and the control theory of self-regulation (Carver & Scheier, 1981, 2000) provided a framework for the discussion of the dispositional coping styles and strategies used by individuals of differing prose literacy ability. It was argued that a negative self-schema of the individual as a learner is developed through prior negative experiences of formal education. It was hypothesised that this negative self-schema, built from a low self-confidence and fear of educational failure and rejection, predisposed the individual to a heightened negative self-focus. This in turn was proposed to direct attention to the self and the associated emotional aspects of a response to a stressor, leading to a bias towards habitual coping strategies of avoidance and less frequent use of problem-focused strategies by this group. These findings and the associated interpretations have implications for the future development of coping strategy training interventions for individuals with low functional literacy competencies who wish to re-engage with formal education.

A large body of research has depicted relative arousal of the left and right cerebral hemispheres as related to utilization of particular defensive coping styles, level of anxiety, and perceptual styles. The right and left hemispheres are also presented in the literature as differing in visual-spatial and verbal-auditory short term memory abilities. The present research studied 127 right handed undergraduates' relative performance on forward spatial and digits memory spans in relation to hemispheric lateralization and other perceptual and personality variables hypothesized in the literature to be related to hemispheric arousal. It was hypothesized that the forward spatial and digit memory spans would display asymmetrical sensitivity to hemispheric arousal. That is, in a series of successive factor analyses, a hemispheric balance factor, a trait anxiety factor, and a short term memory factor would emerge. The three factors were hypothesized to be unrelated to each other. During an initial group pretesting, subjects were given pencil and paper measures of handedness, trait anxiety, and several defensive coping styles. During a second individual testing, subjects were administered measures of short term memory, field independence, and a computerized presentation of geometric designs which measured the subjects ability to detect differences which occurred at either the global or analytic level (Navon task). The factor analyses revealed only the hypothesized trait anxiety factor. The hypothesized short term memory and hemispheric balance of arousal factors did not emerge. Instead, a. defensive coping style factor and separate verbal—auditory and visual-spatial short term memory factors emerged. Several methodological difficulties of the present study which possibly contributed to the failure of the two hypothesized factors to emerge were discussed. Several additional findings, including sex differences in hemispheric lateralization, were presented. Also, signal detection analysis revealed a pattern such that trait anxious subjects were biased toward over-reporting differences on the Navon task. Implications for further research were presented.

Neste trabalho realizou-se a avaliação de pacientes com doenças inflamatórias intestinais (DII) - doença de Crohn (DC) e retocolite ulcerativa idiopática (RCUI) quanto às variáveis psicológicas estresse e modos de enfrentamento utilizado frente à situação de doença. Investigaram-se, ainda, as relações entre estas variáveis e diferentes aspectos clínicos das DII. Os grupos de pacientes com DC e RCUI foram compostos por 25 integrantes cada, que foram comparados com igual número de controles doentes (CD) e saudáveis (CS), sendo estes últimos selecionados dentre os acompanhantes dos pacientes. Empregaram-se instrumentos padronizados e validados de avaliação psicológica: escala de eventos vitais e inventário de enfrentamento. Os resultados mostraram que proporções elevadas e semelhantes (64 80%) dos integrantes dos quatro grupos apresentaram-se sob estresse intenso, ocorrendo, porém, diferenças entre os grupos quanto aos tipos de eventos vitais estressantes experimentados. O estresse intenso se mostrou maior e associado significativamente à idade mais avançada na DC e à doença em atividade na RCUI. Quanto aos modos de enfrentamento, na DC e na RCUI, verificaram-se proporções semelhantes e significativamente superiores à do grupo CD de casos utilizando a estratégia de confronto (40% vs. 12%; p=0,01). Na DC, a proporção de pacientes utilizando a estratégia de resolução de problemas foi significativamente maior que na RCUI (96% vs. 80%; p=0,05). Na RCUI, a proporção de pacientes utilizando a estratégia de fuga/esquiva (96%) foi significativamente maior (p=0,05) que nos grupos CD (80%) e CS (76%). A utilização das várias estratégias de enfrentamento parece ser afetada, na DC, por sexo, escolaridade e estado de atividade da doença. Na RCUI, houve efeito das variáveis: escolaridade, estado de atividade e duração da doença e estresse intenso. Estes dados indicam a ocorrência de estresse intenso nos pacientes, independente do tipo de doença e, também nos acompanhantes. A DC e a RCUI se diferenciam quanto às estratégias de enfrentamento mais utilizadas e pelos fatores que as afetam, o que deve ser levado em consideração no estabelecimento de medidas de intervenção psicológica necessárias ao cuidado integral ao paciente. / This work aimed at assessing emotional stress and coping strategies in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD): Cohns disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), as well as studying the relationships between this psychological variables and demographical and clinical characteristics. Groups of patients with CD and UC (N=25) were compared with equal number of subjects from two control groups: healthy caregivers (HC) and patients with other digestive diseases (DC). Validated and standardized psychological tools, such as a stressful live events scale and a ways of coping questionnaire were utilized. Results showed that substantial proportions (64 80%) of subjects pertaining to each of the four groups were under severe stress, with a number of inter-group differences regarding the most quoted stressful event. Severe stress was associated with older age in CD patients, and with disease activity in UC patients. Regarding coping strategies, IBD patients showed an increased proportion of utilization of confrontation (40% vs. 12%; p=0.01), when compared to the DC group. In the CD group, there was a higher proportion of patients utilizing the problem solving strategy, than in the UC group (96% vs. 80%; p=0.05). In the UC group, the proportion of patients utilizing the avoidance strategy (96%) was significantly greater (p=0.05) than in both DC (80%) and HC (76%) groups. In IBD patients, coping styles seemed to be affected by sex (only in the CD group), educational level and disease activity, as well as by disease duration and severe stress (only in the UC group). Our data therefore show that severe emotional stress occurs not only in IBD and other digestive disease patients but also in their caregivers. CD and UC patients show different coping styles, which seems also to be affected by distinct demographical and clinical variables. These findings should be taken into account when designing psychological interventions, which are needed for a more comprehensive health care.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T14:20:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabiola Ribeiro de Moraes Santeiro.pdf: 516590 bytes, checksum: 7fda62f80ca77c11ea5208db2f849244 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-03-07 / Studies on coping help to understand about human contexts and on coping skills to everyday demands. This work consists of two parts. In the first one performs an analysis of scientific literature on coping. The sample consists of 294 articles published between 1993 and 2012 in journals indexed to international database SciELO. Several indicators show that the academic production on coping enjoys positive characteristics, among which stands out the occurrence of significant empirical studies. Given the relevance of the study of coping in adolescents, obtained through systematic analysis of the production area, the second part takes place descriptive study about the use of coping strategies in adolescents, students of big Goiânia (N=430) of both genders and aged between 12 and 19 years. There are significant differences in the use of coping strategies as age and gender of the participants. To consolidate the findings presented, further research is desirable. / Estudos sobre coping ajudam a entender sobre contextos humanos e sobre habilidades de enfrentamento às demandas cotidianas. Este trabalho se compõe de duas partes. Na primeira delas realiza-se uma análise de produção científica sobre coping. A amostra é composta por 294 artigos publicados entre 1993 e 2012, em periódicos indexados à base de dados internacional SciELO. Diversos indicadores demonstram que a produção acadêmica sobre coping desfruta de características positivas, dentre as quais se destaca a ocorrência significante de estudos empíricos. Constatada a relevância do estudo sobre coping em adolescentes, obtida por meio do levantamento sistemático da produção na área, na segunda parte realiza-se estudo descritivo sobre o uso de estratégias de coping em adolescentes, escolares da grande Goiânia (N=430), de ambos os sexos e com idades entre 12 e 19 anos. Verificam-se diferenças significativas no uso de estratégias de coping conforme idade e gênero dos participantes. Para consolidação dos achados apresentados, novas pesquisas são desejáveis.