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Themes of effective coping in physical disability: an interview study of 26 persons who have learnt to live with their disability
Author(s) -
Persson LarsOlof,
Rydén Anna
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of caring sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.678
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1471-6712
pISSN - 0283-9318
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-6712.2006.00418.x
Subject(s) - acknowledgement , coping (psychology) , grounded theory , psychology , physical disability , qualitative research , social psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , social science , computer security , sociology , computer science
The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of effective coping in physical disability and/or chronic illness. Twenty‐six well‐adjusted adults with various disabilities were interviewed. The interviews focused on how they perceived they had managed to master problems encountered by their disability and their personal views about how one should act and think to manage a life with a disability. The protocols were content analysed according to grounded theory. Five categories were extracted – self‐trust, problem‐reducing actions, change of values, social trust and minimization. These categories clustered around two broader bipolar constructs – acknowledgement of reality vs. creation of hope and trust in oneself vs. trust in others. The different themes of coping complemented each other and tended to be used in different contexts in a flexible manner. Both the extracted categories and the core concepts have been extensively described in the coping literature, supporting their validity. The importance of understanding coping processes from the disabled's point of view is discussed.