Department of Psychology, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, North Carolina, USA.
Atrium Health, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
Stress Health. 2021 Apr;37(2):213-222. doi: 10.1002/smi.2985. Epub 2020 Sep 25.
Caregivers of children with chronic illnesses experience elevated stress and reduced self-care. Although self-care can be beneficial, it is a form of disengagement coping, disengaging from the stressor to try and feel better, which has been characterized as a maladaptive coping strategy. In this study, we test the formulation that avoidance, avoiding the stressor and any thoughts related to it, is a maladaptive disengagement coping strategy, whereas distraction, taking a break from the stressor to do something pleasant, is an adaptive disengagement coping strategy. We assessed these strategies as well as psychosocial outcomes and trait predictors in caregivers of children with chronic illnesses. Results showed that those high in avoidance coping reported lower well-being, higher depression and higher stress. Alternatively, when controlling for avoidance, those high in distraction reported higher well-being, lower depression and lower stress. In addition, distraction exhibited strong relationships to increased positive emotions during caregiving situations and was associated with positive personality traits. These results suggest that not all disengagement coping strategies are equal; although avoidance may be a maladaptive strategy, distraction can be an effective positive emotional strategy for coping with the chronic stress of caregiving for a child with a chronic illness.
照顾患有慢性疾病的儿童的人会经历更高的压力和更低的自我保健。虽然自我保健可能是有益的，但它是一种脱离应对的形式，脱离压力源以试图感觉更好，这被认为是一种适应不良的应对策略。在这项研究中，我们检验了这样一种假设，即回避，避免压力源和与之相关的任何想法，是一种适应不良的脱离应对策略，而分散注意力，从压力源中休息一下去做一些愉快的事情，是一种适应良好的脱离应对策略。我们评估了这些策略以及慢性疾病儿童照顾者的心理社会结果和特质预测因子。结果表明，回避应对得分高的人报告的幸福感较低，抑郁和压力水平较高。相反，当控制回避时，那些分心得分高的人报告的幸福感更高，抑郁和压力水平更低。此外，分心与在照顾情况下增加积极情绪有很强的关系，并与积极的人格特质有关。这些结果表明，并非所有的脱离应对策略都是平等的；尽管回避可能是一种适应不良的策略，但分散注意力可以是应对照顾患有慢性疾病的儿童的慢性压力的一种有效的积极情绪策略。
