Explores some key existential or ontological concepts to show their applicability to the complex area of disaster impact as it relates to health and social welfare practice. Draws on existentialist philosophy, particularly that of John Paul Sartre, and introduces some key ontological concepts to show how they specifically apply to the experience…

Synthesizes past studies of illness, stress, coping, and social support and offers a model of communicative support, based on problematic integration theory, that emphasizes two major dimensions of meaning in the breast cancer experience. Suggests that supportive messages are designed to help the breast cancer patient manage both perceptions of…

The concept of grief may have value as a way to understand individual reactions to change. Coping strategies for dealing with change should include grief management processes such as attending to endings, managing the transition between old and new practices, and launching a new beginning. (SK)

Tests Coleman's (1995) hypotheses that the strategies adolescents use to cope with cultural diversity will be organized in a sequential manner and that adolescents will use different strategies depending on the situation. To test these hypotheses, 398 adolescents rated the likelihood of using 6 strategies for coping with cultural diversity. Makes…

This study examined associations between adolescents' self-reports and parents' reports of adolescents' exposure to family stress, coping, and symptoms of anxiety/depression and aggression in a sample of 78 adolescent offspring of depressed parents. Significant cross-informant correlations were found between adolescents' reports of family stress,…

The present study tested for gender differences in depressive symptoms in a sample of 622 low-income, urban, African American adolescents. Results indicate that adolescent girls in this sample were significantly more likely to endorse depressive symptoms than were boys. To examine possible explanations for this gender difference, 2 variables were…

We describe a distress prevention training program for couples and three empirical studies that support its effectiveness. The program, Couples Coping Enhancement Training (CCET), is based both upon stress and coping theory and research on couples. In addition to traditional elements of couples programs (e.g., communication and problem-solving…

Funerals are therapeutic. They offer a time to be with others and to share memories and support. They allow opportunity to do something at a time that seems so disorganized and stressful. Funerals reaffirm the reality of death while providing an outlet for emotions. They even help individuals understand the death--to hear the ways that their own…

An attachment theory based perspective on the continuing bond to the deceased (CB) is proposed. The value of attachment theory in specifying the normative course of CB expression and in identifying adaptive versus maladaptive variants of CB expression based on their deviation from this normative course is outlined. The role of individual…

This paper reports the coping strategies characterising self-professed weak copers. In order to do so it examines strategies reported by a subset of a sample of 976 adolescents, as measured by the Adolescent Coping Scale. What is of interest in this investigation are the coping strategies of the most vulnerable adolescent group. Such information…

The effects of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, and other natural disasters will be felt by young children in the affected areas for a long time to come. This article offers tips on how to talk with children about natural disasters in order to clear up any confusion they might have, how to answer their questions with sensitivity, and how to…

Conceptualizing parental grief as a psychosocial transition, this cross-sectional study of bereaved mothers (N = 35) examined the relationship of dispositional factors, grief reactions, and personal growth. More optimistic mothers reported less intense grief reactions and less distress indicative of complicated grief. Additionally, mothers who…

For many survivors of serious road trauma, the physical and psychological consequences are complex and lifelong. The longer-term psychosocial recovery experience for survivors, however, is rarely documented in the social work literature. This article reports on findings from a study of road trauma recovery experiences. The findings are presented…

Patients in a low-income community health center with Type 2 diabetes (N = 81) taking a one-day education workshop as part of their diabetes medical management were randomly assigned either to education alone or to a combination of education and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Both groups were taught how to manage their diabetes, but…

Professional school counselors experience unique challenges as they struggle to provide information to parents about self-injurious behaviors and methods to cope with adolescents who self-injure. This paper explores self-injurious behaviors, discusses some of the reasons why adolescents practice self-injury and recommends six strategies that…