Evaluation of a Resilience Intervention to Enhance Coping Strategies and Protective Factors and Decrease Symptomatology

Objective: In this pilot study, the authors examined the effectiveness of a 4-week resilience intervention to enhance resilience, coping strategies, and protective factors, as well as decrease symptomatology during a period of increased academic stress. Participants and Methods: College students were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 30) and wait-list control (n = 27) groups. The experimental group received a psychoeducational intervention in 4 two-hour weekly sessions. Measures of resilience, coping strategies, protective factors, and symptomatology were administered pre- and postintervention to both groups. Results: Analyses indicated that the experimental group had significantly higher resilience scores, more effective coping strategies (ie, higher problem solving, lower avoidant), higher scores on protective factors (ie, positive affect, self-esteem, self-leadership), and lower scores on symptomatology (ie, depressive symptoms, negative affect, perceived stress) postintervention than did the wait-list control group. Conclusions: These findings indicate that this resilience program may be useful as a stress-management and stress-prevention intervention for college students.     

Social work students in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: correlates of post-disaster substance use as a negative coping mechanism

Social work students’ post-disaster coping while in the field is an important workforce issue with ethical implications. The current study utilized secondary data collected in a previous study examining post-disaster alcohol and other drug (AOD) use among social work student volunteers (N = 416) in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (HKR). The current sample included participants from the original study who responded to a single-item measure of AOD use as a negative coping mechanism (N = 290). The present study examined potential explanatory variables of AOD use in the aftermath of HKR, including demographic (age, gender, and race) and psychosocial characteristics (hurricane-related stressors, previous traumatic stressors, and post-traumatic stress). The multivariate logistic regression model distinguished between students who never or rarely used AOD and those who used AOD often to cope with HKR, accounting for 24% of model variance. Social work students who report post-disaster AOD use may risk experiencing additional, trauma-related vulnerabilities, should be further assessed, and provided necessary specialized supports to enable their well-being and to prevent impaired practice.     

Resilience in Undergraduate Social Work Students: Social Support and Adjustment to Academic Stress1

The purpose of this exploratory study was to analyze the relationship between academic stress and resilience in American, undergraduate social work students (N = 145), and to identify whether social support functioned as a protective factor amid this relationship. Testing social support within models of mediation and moderation served this purpose. Surveys were submitted to three social work programs and solicited empirical data on academic stress; social support and two subsystems, family and friend support; and perceived resilience. The sample reported moderate levels of academic stress, social support, and resilience. Academic stress significantly (p < 0.05), negatively influenced social support and resilience. Social support systems exerted significant, positive influence with each other and with resilience. No social supports mediated the negative stress effect on resilience. Friend support moderated the academic stress–resilience relationship. Implications for social work educators and field agency practitioners regarding enhancement of supportive peer relationships among undergraduate students are discussed.     

Evaluation of a resilience intervention to enhance coping strategies and protective factors and decrease symptomatology

OBJECTIVE: In this pilot study, the authors examined the effectiveness of a 4-week resilience intervention to enhance resilience, coping strategies, and protective factors, as well as decrease symptomatology during a period of increased academic stress. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: College students were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 30) and wait-list control (n = 27) groups. The experimental group received a psychoeducational intervention in 4 two-hour weekly sessions. Measures of resilience, coping strategies, protective factors, and symptomatology were administered pre- and postintervention to both groups. RESULTS: Analyses indicated that the experimental group had significantly higher resilience scores, more effective coping strategies (i.e., higher problem solving, lower avoidant), higher scores on protective factors (i.e., positive affect, self-esteem, self-leadership), and lower scores on symptomatology (i.e., depressive symptoms, negative affect, perceived stress) postintervention than did the wait-list control group. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that this resilience program may be useful as a stress-management and stress-prevention intervention for college students.     

Randomized controlled trial of the Resilience and Coping Intervention (RCI) with undergraduate university students

Objective: The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the Resilience and Coping Intervention (RCI) with college students. Participants: College students (aged 18–23) from a large Midwest US university who volunteered for a randomized controlled trial during the 2015 spring semester. Methods: College students were randomly assigned to an intervention (n = 64) or a control (n = 65) group. Intervention participants received three 45-minute RCI sessions over subsequent weeks. All participants completed pre- and post-intervention assessments at the beginning of Week 1 and end of Week 3. Student resilience, coping, hope, stress, depression, and anxiety were assessed. Results. RCI participants reported significantly more hope and less stress and depression from Week 1 to Week 3 compared with control participants. Results for resilience also approached statistical significance. Effect sizes were small to moderate. Conclusions: This study found preliminary evidence that RCI is an effective resilience intervention for use with college students.     

Stress and impact of spirituality as a mediator of coping methods among social work college students

ABSTRACT

This exploratory pilot study was conducted to understand the stress level and coping strategies of social work students, with the aim to develop strategies to help students increase their ability to manage stress. The study examined the levels of stress perceived by the students in a faith-based program, identified their coping methods, and explored the impact of spirituality on the perceived stress level. A significant association between students’ stress levels and their coping methods existed among all the measures. Adaptive coping methods, such as Active Coping, Positive Framing, and Religion, were significantly correlated with lower levels of stress, while maladaptive coping methods, such as Behavioral Disengagement, Self-Distraction, Denial, Substance Abuse, Venting, and Self-Blame were correlated with higher levels of stress. Spirituality had a greater buffering effect on the students’ ability to handle stress. The higher the level of student spirituality the less likely the students were to have higher levels of stress and the more likely they were to use adaptive coping methods rather than dysfunctional coping methods. This study discusses the important ramifications of reducing stress in college students especially in a faith-based program, as well as strategies for reframing how stress and coping methods are viewed so as to better help students for current and future social work education and practice landscapes.     

Family-of-origin and service-member resilience

ABSTRACT

Military research on family resilience has not examined the contribution of family-of-origin to resilience of service-members. In this study, researchers investigated the extent to which predeployed service-members’ perception of resilience was related to characteristics of family-of-origin. The sample consisted of 344 U.S. Army soldiers within 6 months of deployment to Afghanistan, contacted through their units and invited to participate. Soldiers completed a survey of perceived resilience, family-of-origin and immediate family variables, and social support. Data were also collected on age, income, ethnicity, number of deployments, and relationship status. Regression analyses were conducted to explain variation in service-member resilience scores. Sample demographics were compared with the active duty soldier population and correlations among the key family-of-origin and social support variables were reported. Family-of-origin satisfaction was moderately related to service-member resilience for the full sample (β = .176, p = .001) and married sample (β = .260, p = .000). It was weakly related in the unmarried sample (β = .147, p = .226). Family social support explained the most variation in resilience across all samples. Study limitations and guidelines and resources for social work practice, education, and research to strengthen family-of-origin and service-member resilience are provided.     

Exploring the impact of mindfulnesss on mental wellbeing,stress and resilience of undergraduate social work students

Mindfulness is becoming more popular as emerging research demonstrates its benefits for self-care, by cultivating calmness and decreasing stress or anxiety. This pilot study aimed to measure the impact of a six-week Mindfulness course, modelled on the manualised treatment programme developed by Kabat-Zinn on the mental well-being, stress and resilience of undergraduate social work students in Northern Ireland. This was a mixed methods study involving two groups: (1) intervention group participants who attended a six-week Mindfulness course (April–May 2016) and (2) control group participants. Basic socio-demographic data were collected from all participants and all were invited to complete the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale and the Resilience Scale during weeks 1 and 6. Statistical tests were used to compare mean scores from the scales, and qualitative data were manually analysed using thematic content analysis. Findings indicated significant changes in the scores for well-being, stress and resilience for the intervention group, but not for the control group. Mindfulness may not appeal to all students so it should not be a mandatory component of training, but may be offered as one of the wider approaches to self-care for undergraduate social work degree students.     

Bullying victimization in non-heterosexual university students

In this study the prevalence, impact on mental health, and coping of bullying victimization in university students identifying as non-heterosexual was compared with their heterosexual peers. University students were surveyed on bullying experiences within the past 12 months, their mental health, and use of coping strategies. Demographic information identified gender, age, and sexual orientation. Results indicated that 14.3% of students reported victimization, and that students ages 24 to 35, and those who identified as non-heterosexual, reported higher rates of victimization. No gender differences were found. Bullied students scored significantly higher on depression, anxiety, and stress scores than non-bullied students. Comparisons of mental health scores and coping strategies of non-heterosexual and heterosexual bullied students found no significant differences, indicating both groups are equally impacted, and equally utilize adaptive and maladaptive strategies to manage the victimization. Implications for tertiary institutions include identification of effective coping resources for diverse university student populations. Limitations and recommendations for future research are considered.     

Tapping your way to success: using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to reduce anxiety and improve communication skills in social work students

By the nature of their professional training and practice placements, social work students are prone to situations provoking the onset of anxiety. A programme of academic and placement support, termed the ‘Skills Lab’, provides help and support for students to develop their communication skills and prepare for their practice placements and transition into professional social work practice. Skills Lab evaluations indicated a high level of appreciation, linked with a strong sense of apprehension and anxiety, which some students report has negatively affected their performance. To address student anxiety, a pilot study using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) was developed. EFT is an intervention, which may potentially be effective in reducing academic anxiety and enhancing public speaking. This mixed-methods pilot study measured participants’ (n = 45) subjective distress and anxiety before and after using EFT. Subjective distress/anxiety was invoked through a 15-min assignment lecture. Twelve of the 45 students also participated in one-one interviews to elaborate on their experiences of EFT. Quantitative findings indicated participants reported significantly less subjective distress and anxiety after using EFT. Qualitative findings indicated three themes whereby participants found EFT calming, relaxing and helpful; considered the transferability of EFT in other settings; and proposed some of the mechanisms of EFT’s action.     

Reflective ability,empathy, and emotional intelligence in undergraduate social work students: a cross-sectional study from India

The extant literature indicates that social work is a high stress profession owing to multifarious and complex demands of practice. There is also evidence of stress experienced by student trainees who aspire for a career in social work. Working with service users and the distressing life scenarios encountered on placement often involves negotiating complex emotions and requires reflective skills. Effective practice requires rapport building skills and the ability to demonstrate empathy is a core skill for effective practice. While there is a plethora of Western literature on these issues, the Indian literature has not adequately explored them. Framed against this background, this quantitative study collected data from students of all three years of their undergraduate social work course from a ‘women only’ college in India. Standardised instruments to assess empathy, reflective ability and emotional intelligence were administered. Statistical tests revealed a higher manifestation of these dimensions in final-year students than those in the first year. Further it was seen that the total emotional intelligence and empathy scores were positively correlated. Implications of these findings for the education and training of social work students has also been discussed in this article.     

Coping Resources and Stress Reactions Among Three Cultural Groups One Year After a Natural Disaster

The aim of this study was to examine patterns of personal and community coping resources in explaining stress reactions among three cultural groups: Jews, Muslims and Druze, 1 year after the massive forest fire on Mount Carmel, Israel. We first compared the three cultures in their levels of personal and community resources as well as their stress reactions: anxiety, anger and psychological distress. Data on demographics, personal and community sense of coherence (SOC), as well as stress reactions of state anxiety, state anger and psychological distress, were gathered a year after the fire in northern Israel, among adolescents aged 12–18 belonging to three cultural groups. Results indicate that the personal coping resource of SOC was the strongest predictor of ‘stress reactions’ in all cultures. Community SOC, however, played a significant role especially for the collectivistic culture of the Druze. We will discuss the results in the framework of Antonovsky’s salutogenic model and his conviction that the personal resource of SOC functions as a protective or resiliency mechanism in all cultures whose members are in a chronic state of stress. Implementation of the findings for establishing interventions for social workers to promote sense of coherence and increase resiliency of adolescents will be presented as well.     

Research With Adolescent Victims of Child Sexual Abuse: Evaluation of Emotional Impact on Participants

The aim of this study was to evaluate the emotional impact on adolescent victims of sexual abuse from participating in a study addressing the consequences of their abuse. A total of 114 adolescents between 12 and 17 years old participated (54 sexually abused adolescents and 60 nonabused students). Both groups responded to a battery of scales to determine their coping strategies and some psychological consequences linked to stressful experiences and two questions about the emotional impact of participating in the study. Sexually abused adolescents reported fewer unpleasant emotions after participating than did nonvictim students (mean difference = .45, t[109] = ?2.934; p < .01). Adolescents who had more symptoms reported more discomfort (r_S scores between .35 and .49; p < .01). These results suggest that when ethical guidelines are followed, it is possible to survey adolescent victims of sexual abuse on aspects related to their experience without causing them significant distress.     

Religion,spirituality, coping,and resilience among African Americans with diabetes

Study aims were to explore how religion and spirituality impacted attitudes about self-management practices among African Americans with homelessness histories and to understand resilience in diabetes care practices. Qualitative semistructured face-to-face interviews were conducted with 42 African Americans older than 18 years. All audio-taped interviews lasted between 1–1.5 hr, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using ATLAS.ti (version 7.0). Five resilience themes emerged. While participants recognized diabetes as an illness requiring professional treatment, the context of balancing treatment with religion and spiritual practices mattered. The study findings highlight the importance of spirituality, religious beliefs, and coping strategies in diabetes self-care activities.     

Cultural models of popularity,stress, social support,and violence among African American U.S. teens living in a high-poverty community

The ways in which teenagers understand their social environments can be important for social service providers to understand. A cognitive anthropological approach grounded in cultural consensus theory was used to investigate teenagers and social and health service providers in a pilot study in East Cleveland, Ohio (N = 28). The qualitative method of free listing was used to determine the cultural models of popularity, stress, social support, and causes of violence. Teens were also surveyed to examine their levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. Consensus was tested and not found in the domains. Teens were found to have above-average rates of stress and anxiety. A greater understanding of the sources of stress and causes of violence is described, along with the clinical, policy, and research implications of this study.     

In Spite of All,We Make It: Themes of Stress and Resiliency as Told by Women in Families Living in Poverty

The purpose of this research study was to increase our understanding of how families living in poverty successfully meet life challenges. Family resiliency provided the theoretical framework for examining family coping and adaptation. This study used a purposive sample of women (N = 128) in families with children attending Head Start. All families lived below or at poverty level, most with 11th grade education or high-school/GED diploma. Content analysis methods were used for data analysis. Results of this study identify the characteristics that promote competence, including how individual, family, and environmental factors are potential stressors that also may serve to promote family resilience. The data indicate that family love and mutual support, as well as faith, help stressed families cope and maintain meaning in spite of lack of control over life circumstances resulting from economic poverty.     

The Role of Humor Styles and Shared Laughter in the Postdivorce Recovery Process

ABSTRACT

Humorous communication has the potential to bolster resilient outcomes in individuals, and this could be especially true postdivorce. Framed by the resilience model and the stress buffering hypothesis, this study examined humor styles and shared laughter as coping mechanisms following divorce. Results indicate that participants (N = 89) who used self-defeating humor experienced physical stress, the time since the divorce was finalized influenced stress and rumination, and physical stress symptoms are suppressed by shared laughter with a source of social support. The implications of humor as an individual resource and shared laughter as a social resource in postdivorce resiliency are discussed.     

A latent class analysis of young adult gamblers from the Manitoba Longitudinal Survey of Young Adults

Informed by the Pathways Model, the current study utilized latent class analysis (LCA) to empirically derive subtypes of gamblers based on measures of impulsivity, anxiety, depression, drug use and alcohol dependence. The sample in this study (N = 566) was comprised of young adult gamblers (18–22 years of age) who participated in the Manitoba Longitudinal Survey of Young Adults (MLSYA). Multinomial regression was utilized to examine how demographic variables and participant scores on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) predicted membership in gambler classes from the LCA. Results of the LCA revealed three classes of gamblers: emotionally vulnerable, non-problem and impulsive. Multinomial regression showed that older age (i.e. 20–22 years of age), lower income (< $20,000 per year), living independently and PGSI scores were associated with increased odds of being classified as an impulsive gambler. Identifying as European, living independently and PGSI scores were associated with increased odds of being grouped in the emotionally vulnerable class of gambler. These results suggest that young adult gamblers are not a homogeneous group but instead are best understood as falling into different subtypes based on shared characteristics outlined in the Pathways Model.