Follow-up of coping skills training in adults with sickle cell disease: Analysis of daily pain and coping practice diaries.

This study examined the 3-month follow-up effects of a pain coping skills intervention in African American adults with sickle cell disease. Sixty-seven participants were randomly assigned to either a coping skills condition or a disease-eduction control condition. Multivariate analyses applied to summary measures of coping, laboratory pain perception, and clinical measures indicated that participants in the coping intervention reported significantly lower laboratory pain and significantly higher coping attempts at 3-month follow-up in comparison with the control condition. Multilevel random effects models applied to prospective daily diaries of daily pain, health care contacts, and coping practice indicated that on pain days when participants practiced their strategies, they had less major health care contacts in comparison with days when they did not use strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhancing students' test coping skills: Report of a psychological health education program.

We tested the effectiveness of a teacher-implemented psychological health education program designed to improve students' test coping skills in the classroom. Four hundred ninety-seven Israeli students, drawn from 24 fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school classes, were randomly assigned to experimental and control conditions by homeroom class. Students were trained to practice rational self-analysis and exploration, relaxation and deep-breathing exercises, positive self-statements, positive self-reinforcement, and coping imagery. The training program consisted of five workshop sessions held in the classroom and implemented by homeroom teachers specifically trained for the task. Overall, the cognitive training program was shown to significantly improve students' levels of performance on three cognitive measures, although it negligibly affected test anxiety score. On the whole, these results support the feasibility and effectiveness of a teacher-based program for the improvement of students' test coping skills and subsequent test performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group coping skills instruction and supportive group therapy for cancer patients: A comparison of strategies.

Compared the relative efficacy of comprehensive group coping skills training and supportive group therapy for enhancing 41 cancer patients' (aged 19–64 yrs) adjustment to their disease. Support group sessions were nondirective and emphasized the mutual sharing of feelings and concerns. Coping skills training included instruction in relaxation and stress management, assertive communication, cognitive restructuring and problem solving, feelings management, and pleasant activity planning. Results demonstrate a consistent superiority of the coping skills intervention over supportive group therapy and a no-treatment control. Ss receiving supportive group therapy exhibited little improvement, and untreated Ss evidenced a significant deterioration in psychological adjustment. It is suggested that psychological distressed cancer patients should be provided with multifaceted coping skills training. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional disclosure through writing or speaking modulates latent Epstein-Barr virus antibody titers.

57 healthy Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) seropositive undergraduates completed a personality inventory, provided blood samples, and were randomly assigned to write or talk about stressful events, or to write about trivial events, during 3 weekly 20-min sessions, after which they provided a final blood sample. Ss assigned to the verbal/stressful condition had significantly lower EBV antibody titers (suggesting better cellular immune control over the latent virus) after the intervention than those in the written/stressful group, who had significantly lower values than those in the written/trivial control group. Ss assigned to the written/stressful condition expressed more negative emotional words than the verbal/stressful and control groups and more positive emotional words than the verbal/stressful group at each time point. The verbal/stressful group expressed more negative emotional words compared with the control group at baseline. Content analysis indicated that the verbal/stressful group achieved the greatest improvements in cognitive change, self-esteem, and adaptive coping strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Efficacy of brief coping skills interventions that match different personality profiles of female substance abusers.

Female substance abusers recruited from the community were randomly assigned to receive 1 of 3 brief interventions that differentially targeted their personality and reasons for drug use. The 90-min interventions were: (a) a motivation-matched intervention involving personality-specific motivational and coping skills training, (b) a motivational control intervention involving a motivational film and a supportive discussion with a therapist, and (c) a motivation-mismatched intervention targeting a theoretically different personality profile. Assessment 6 months later (N?=?198) indicated that only the matched intervention proved to be more effective than the motivational control intervention in reducing frequency and severity of problematic alcohol and drug use and preventing use of multiple medical services. These findings indicate promise for a client-treatment matching strategy that focuses on personality-specific motives for substance abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sickle cell disease pain: Relation of coping strategies to adjustment.

This study examines pain coping strategies in a relatively neglected pain population, sickle cell disease (SCD) patients. Seventy-nine patients diagnosed with SCD were given a structured interview to assess pain, activity level, and health care use during painful episodes. Patients also completed the SCL-90—R as an index of psychological distress and the Coping Strategies Questionnaire. Regression analyses controlled for age, sex, and disease severity measures. Results indicated that the coping strategies factors were important predictors of pain and adjustment. Individuals high on Negative Thinking and Passive Adherence had more severe pain, were less active and more distressed, and used more health care services. Individuals high on Coping Attempts were more active during painful episodes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Telepathology diagnosis of prostrate needle biopsies

Studies have found that coping strategies are significant predictors of pain report, health care use, and psychosocial adjustment in children with sickle cell disease (SCD); however, the mechanisms of the relationship are not clear. In this study, 41 children with SCD completed a laboratory pain task to analyze their pain perception under standardized conditions. Sensory decision theory analyses were used to analyze the pain perception data. Children and their parents also completed measures of coping strategies and adjustment. Hierarchical regression analyses controlling for the child's age indicated that children who reported using active cognitive and behavioral coping strategies had a lower tendency to report pain during the laboratory pain task. Results are discussed in terms of the utility of using laboratory pain models with children and the need for future intervention studies to target coping strategies in children with SCD pain.     

Brief coping skills treatment for cocaine abuse: substance use outcomes at three months

AIMS: Coping skills training, a promising treatment approach for alcoholics, was adapted for use with cocaine abusers and effects on outcome were investigated. DESIGN: A cocaine-specific coping skills training (CST) package was compared to an attention placebo control when both were added to a comprehensive treatment program. SETTING: The sites were two private substance abuse treatment facilities, one residential and rural, and one an urban partial hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Substance abusers in treatment with cocaine abuse or dependence were selected. INTERVENTION: The CST intervention was conducted in individual sessions. It involved functional analysis of high risk situations and coping skills training based on the functional analysis. FINDINGS: Clients who received CST had significantly fewer cocaine use days and the length of their longest binge was significantly shorter during the 3-month follow-up period compared to clients in the control condition. CST did not affect relapse rates or use of other substances. CONCLUSIONS: Results support the notion that cocaine-specific CST is a promising adjunct to treatment for cocaine abusers.     

Psychosocial treatment for recurrent genital herpes.

Thirty-one individuals with recurrent genital herpes were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: psychosocial intervention, social support, or waiting-list control. Each treatment condition contained two 5-member groups, and the waiting-list condition contained 11 members. Six consecutive weekly 90-min group treatment sessions were conducted for subjects in the first two conditions, whereas those in the waiting-list control condition were offered treatment at follow-up. Subjects in psychosocial intervention were provided with herpes simplex virus (HSV) information, relaxation training, stress management instructions, and an imagery technique. The social support groups shared feelings and experiences about the disease and served as placebo control subjects. Individuals receiving psychosocial intervention reported significantly greater reductions in herpes activity and significant improvements on emotional distress, social support, and cognitive measures when compared with the other individuals. It was concluded that psychosocial intervention effectively reduced the chronicity of recurrent HSV infections and facilitated adjustment to the disease. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pain coping strategies and depression in rheumatoid arthritis.

A study was conducted to examine the role of pain episodes and the role of active and passive pain coping strategies in depicting depression in 287 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The independent effects of pain and pain coping strategies, as well as the interaction effects between pain and pain coping strategies on depression, were evaluated cross-sectionally and prospectively over a 6-month interval. The cross-sectional findings revealed that pain, passive coping, and the interaction between pain and passive coping contributed independent variance, all accounting for higher depression. Of principal interest was the finding that the frequent use of passive pain coping strategies in the face of high pain contributed to the most severe level of depression over time. These results were obtained after controlling for the potentially confounding effects of prior depression, functional disability, and medication status. These data imply that there may be a potential benefit of developing techniques to reduce the use of passive pain coping strategies to deal with chronic arthritis pain in cognitive–behavioral pain management programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive and behavioral coping strategies in the reappraisal of stressful social situations.

Compared cognitive and behavioral coping strategies for eliciting reappraisal of stressful social situations in 22 male and 27 female 7th and 8th graders. In the cognitive coping condition Ss were trained to attend objectively to the aversive cues in the stimulus person and were encouraged to reconsider their aversiveness. In the behavioral coping condition Ss were trained to develop more adequate behaviors for coping with the stressful situation. These 2 strategies were tested alone and in combination against an identification-control condition. The coping strategies were more effective in eliciting positive reappraisal of the stressful situation than was the control condition. The behavioral coping strategy resulted in a greater reduction of cue aversiveness. Findings stress the importance of behavioral coping in the reappraisal of stressful stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sickle cell disease pain in children and adolescents: change in pain frequency and coping strategies over time

Examined 9-month follow-up data obtained from children and adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD) and their parents participating in a longitudinal study of pain coping strategies. Of 87 subjects completing the baseline assessment of pain coping strategies, 70 (80%) of their parents completed a structured pain interview assessing their child's health care use and activity reduction during painful episodes over the follow-up period. Regression analyses controlling for age and pain frequency revealed that baseline Coping Attempts were associated with higher levels of school, household, and social activity during painful episodes. Baseline Passive Adherence was associated with more frequent health care contacts during the subsequent 9 months. Increases in Negative Thinking over time were associated with further increases in health care contacts during the follow-up period. Comparing pain coping strategies assessed at baseline to pain coping strategies measured at follow-up revealed that pain coping strategies were relatively stable over time for younger children but changed more for adolescents.     

Efficacy of stress-inoculation training in coping with multiple sclerosis.

Forty multiple sclerosis (MS) patients were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions: stress inoculation training (SIT) or current available care (CAC). The SIT treatment included cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy and progressive deep-muscle relaxation training adapted for MS patients. The CAC treatment provided the usual clinic services, and the CAC group was told the SIT treatment would be available in 5 weeks. At posttest, it was found that the SIT group was significantly less depressed, anxious, and distressed than the CAC group and that they were utilizing more problem-focused coping strategies than CAC control subjects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of a Cognitive Adjunct Procedure Within a Microtraining Situation.

The present study examined the generalization effects of three methods of counselor training: cognitive-behavioral (CB), behavioral (B), and programmed learning (PL). Each of 45 low-scoring females, prescreened on empathic communication, was randomly assigned to one of these groups. The CB and B groups received training via manuals, videotapes, and individual supervision, whereas the PL group received programmed manuals only. The CB group was exposed to cognitive strategies in addition to the skill acquisition content of the B and PL groups. Each trainee completed an interview before, after, and 4 weeks after training. The effects of training on different communication skills were examined and assessed by interview, written, and self-report measures. Findings indicated that the CB group was more empathic at posttraining and demonstrated better communication skills than the PL group at follow-up. The B group generally fell in the intermediate position between the CB and PL groups. These findings are discussed in terms of different cognitive strategies and the benefits of programmed manuals within microtraining. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapy with the chronic pain patient using coping skills development: Outcome study.

This study provided outcome data measuring variables of a psychoeducational group approach to self-management of 88 chronic pain patients and 25 controls. Most of the injuries were back injuries and work related. At the completion of the 16 group sessions, patients reported decreased depression, pain severity, interference, and affective distress and increased life control and general activity. At 1-year follow-up, there was continued increased return to work, lowered workers' compensation, fewer health care visits, and less prescribed pain medication than demographically similar controls. Results suggest that a group psychoeducational program involving learning of general coping skills primarily and pain coping skills secondarily produces an effective approach for the management of chronic pain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping modeling problem solving versus mastery modeling: Effects on adherence, in-session process, and skill acquisition in a residential parent-training program.

This trial compared 2 approaches used to introduce parenting skills in a residential staff training program. 50 staff were randomly assigned to mastery modeling in which videotaped models demonstrated new skills, coping modeling problem solving (CMPS) in which participants formulated their own solutions to the errors depicted by videotaped models, or a waiting-list control group. In both approaches, leaders used modeling, role playing, and homework projects to promote mastery and transfer of new skills. The skills of all groups improved, but CMPS participants attended more sessions, were late to fewer sessions, completed more homework, engaged in more cooperative in-session interaction, rated the program more positively, and reported higher job accomplishment scores. These data suggest that CMPS allowing participants to formulate their own solutions may enhance adherence and reduce the resistance observed in more didactic programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preventing smoking relapse, using an individually tailored skills-training technique.

The effectiveness of a relapse prevention program was studied in a population of 744 smokers. Subjects first attended an intensive 4-day series of 2-hr meetings in which they were trained to use more than 40 behavioral and cognitive cessation techniques. At the 1-week follow-up session, those abstinent from smoking (79%, carbon monoxide verified) were randomly assigned to one of three follow-up conditions: (a) a three-session skills-training program in which subjects developed and actively rehearsed individually tailored coping strategies for likely relapse situations, (b) a three-session discussion control condition in which subjects discussed maintenance but did not develop or rehearse coping strategies, or (c) a no-treatment control condition. Survival analysis indicated higher abstinence rates for the skills-training group than for the control groups throughout the following year. After 12 months, the biochemically confirmed continuous abstinence rate was higher in the skills-training group (41.3%) than in the discussion and no-treatment groups (34.1% and 33.3%, respectively). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive training research on fluid intelligence in old age: What can older adults achieve by themselves?

Cognitive research on the plasticity of fluid intelligence has demonstrated that older adults benefit markedly from guided practice in cognitive skills and problem-solving strategies. We examined to what degree older adults are capable by themselves of achieving similar practice gains, focusing on the fluid ability of figural relations. A sample of 72 healthy older adults was assigned randomly to three conditions: control, tutor-guided training, self-guided training. Training time and training materials were held constant for the two training conditions. Posttraining performances were analyzed using a transfer of training paradigm in terms of three indicators: correct responses, accuracy, and level of time difficulty. The training programs were effective and produced a significant but narrow band of within-ability transfer. However, there was no difference between the two training groups. Older adults were shown to be capable of producing gains by themselves that were comparable to those obtained following tutor-guided training in the nature of test-relevant cognitive skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preparing children for medical examinations: The importance of previous medical experience.

Investigated the relationship between past experience and children's response to preparation for medical examinations in 79 outpatients (aged 3–12 yrs). Ss were assigned to 1 of 5 preparation conditions prior to receiving a medical examination and a throat culture: sensory information, training in coping skills, combined sensory information and coping skills training, attention control, and no-treatment control. Results indicate that Ss with previous negative medical experiences demonstrated more behavioral distress during a throat culture examination than did Ss with previous positive or neutral medical experiences. The attention control condition appeared to increase the distress of Ss with previous negative medical experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of induced affect and covert rehearsal in the acquisition of stress management coping skills.

Direct and generalized effects of cognitive-behavioral coping skills program for test anxiety were assessed. Either covert rehearsal or induced affect was used as the coping skills rehearsal procedure. Both training conditions produced significant reductions in test anxiety, but induced affect yielded a larger test-anxiety decrease than did covert rehearsal, and greater improvement in academic test performance when compared with a control condition. Covert rehearsal, on the other hand, exhibited stronger generalization of treatment effects to general trait anxiety. In the induced-affect condition, improved test performance was highly correlated with reductions in state anxiety. No such relation was found following covert rehearsal, which suggests that the two rehearsal techniques may optimally promote the acquisition and utilization of different classes of coping skills. Consistent with predictions derived from a coping skills model, generalization effects were found on measures of generalized self-efficacy and locus of control for both treatment conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)