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.     

Towards a faith-based program theory: a reconceptualization of program theory

A meta-program theory is proposed to overcome the limitations and improve the use of program theory as an approach to faith-based program evaluation. The essentials for understanding religious organizations, their various programs, and faith and spirituality are discussed to support a rationale for developing a faith-based program theory that captures the complex nature of religious program phenomena. Implications for public policy are examined. New concepts based on structural approach and four program theories are formulated for program analysis. Several theoretical concepts for faith-based program evaluation to guide methods for describing patterns that reflect the religious beliefs and values are suggested.     

Life Change and Spirituality Among a College Student Cohort

Objective: Because college marks a time when life-change is typically high, the authors designed this study to determine whether life-change was related to degree of spirituality, the "directing" component of health, among a college student cohort. Participants and Methods: The sample group, consisting of 180 northeastern US undergraduate college students, completed the 48-item Life Attitude Profile-Revised (LAP-R) and the Schedule of Recent Experience (SRE) in the fall semester of 2004. Results: Findings indicate that college students who reported experiencing higher levels of life change, both positive and negative, also scored lower on spirituality. Nevertheless, these students had scores indicative of a higher desire to find spirituality, even though their motivation to do so was low. Conclusions: Although life changes among college students likely will remain high, lower spirituality can be enhanced; therefore, interested health educators are encouraged to help students increase their degree of spirituality.     

Utility Theory and Adolescent Drug Abusers in Hong Kong

Bauman (1980) showed that the perceived costs and benefits of drug abuse predicted adolescents' subsequent marijuana abuse. The purpose of this study was to replicate the Bauman study with Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong, adding further analysis of individual items of perceived costs and benefits of their drug usage. A total of 77 youth at risk (aged 12–21) were interviewed with a structured questionnaire and their attitudes toward drug abuse, stress level, coping strategies, and parents' marital status were obtained. Congruent with the utility theory, results indicated that the more positive their attitude toward drug abuse, the more likely their involvement in drugs and the higher the observed stages of abuse. However, there was no significant difference between the drug abusers and non-users in some antecedent variables including stress levels in most areas of the adolescent lives, in most stress coping strategies, and parents' marital status. Results are discussed in relation to prevention of adolescent drug abuse.     

A longitudinal analysis of stress among incoming college freshmen

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to: (1) examine changes in stress during first semester among freshmen undergraduates and (2) identify predictors of stress (coping strategies, emotional states, and quality of sleep). Participants: One hundred ninety-seven freshmen students were recruited for a 10-week study during first quarter (October–December, 2015). Methods: Students completed weekly self-report surveys on stress, coping strategies, emotions, and quality of sleep. A generalized linear mixed model was used for analyses. Results: Stress was elevated during examinations periods. Women reported a greater stress level than men. Increased stress level was significantly associated with lower sleep quality and greater negative emotions (fear, anger). Exercise was an effective stress coping strategy, while other coping methods (Internet usage, meditation, and self-isolation) were associated with higher stress. Social media usage did not influence stress level. Conclusions: Future stress management programs for freshmen need to consider gender differences and may focus on sleep, exercise, and decreased general Internet usage.     

Comparative Stress Levels in Part-Time and Full-Time Social Work Programs

Abstract

A survey of 119 graduate social work students revealed higher levels of stress among part-time students than among full-time students. Off-campus, part-time students reported higher levels of stress than either on-campus, part- or full-time students. Thirty-eight variables, representing three major groupings of stressors (program factors, external factors, and stress indicators), were examined and analyzed to compare the perceived stress level of students from full-time and part-time programs.     

College students coping with interpersonal stress: Examining a control-based model of coping

Objective: The ways that college students cope with stress, particularly interpersonal stress, may be a critical factor in determining which students are at risk for impairing mental health disorders. Using a control-based model of coping, the present study examined associations between interpersonal stress, coping strategies, and symptoms. Participants: A total of 135 undergraduate students from 2 universities. Methods: Interpersonal stress, coping strategies, depression, anxiety, and somatization were assessed via self-report. Results: Students reporting more interpersonal stress reported more depression, anxiety, and somatization, and they reported less use of engagement coping strategies and greater use of disengagement coping strategies. Engagement coping strategies accounted for a significant portion of the association between interpersonal stress and mental health symptoms. Unexpectedly, coping strategies did not moderate the association between stress and mental health symptoms. Conclusion: Interventions designed to improve students' coping strategies may be an effective way to reduce mental health problems on college campuses.     

Health Education as a Component of Campus Bulimia Treatment Programs

Abstract

College students experience stressful life events and little research exists on the role the Internet may play in students’ coping. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to examine associations among perceived stress, time spent on the Internet, underlying motives for utilizing the Internet, problematic Internet use, and traditional approaches to coping. Participants: Data were collected from 267 college seniors during March of 2011. Methods: Participants completed an online survey containing measures of coping, motives for utilizing the Internet, problematic online behavior, perceived stress, and background information. Results: Being female, avoidant-emotional coping, and online motive to cope were positively associated with perceived stress and months since most stressful life event and online motive to enhance were negatively associated with stress. Conclusions: Professionals working with college students will benefit from using a nuanced approach to assessing students’ online behavior, including an assessment of underlying motives for use.     

Faith-Based Programs and the Role of Empirical Research

Abstract

After some decades of being subject to neglect or contempt, faith-based social care programs are receiving increased attention and resources enabling them to undertake a greater role in the national network of human services. Faith-based programs receiving public support can expect to be rightly scrutinized by the public, in terms of their ability to attain professed program goals. The tools of conventional empirically-oriented program evaluation research have tremendous potential to help demonstrate the effectiveness of faith-based programs, which will justify their receipt of ongoing support from public funds. Negative research findings can be properly scrutinized by the faith-based community of service providers to help make tough, data-based, decisions on funding priorities. Several examples are described, illustrating how various types of faith-based programs have profitably participated in program evaluation studies.     

Self-blame and stress in undergraduate college students: The mediating role of proactive coping

Objective: This study aimed to examine the mediating relationship of proactive coping on self-blame and stress among US undergraduate college students. Participants: The sample of undergraduate college students (n?=?261) were recruited through their Introduction to Psychology course and registered for the study through a research-based computer program utilized at the university in the fall 2010 and spring 2011 semesters. Methods: Participants voluntarily completed a battery of self-report questionnaires that measured self-blame, proactive coping, and stress. Correlation and regression-based mediation analyses were utilized to address the study objectives. Demographic differences were explored using comparative analyses. Results: Proactive coping was identified as a mediator between self-blame and stress. Correlation analyses revealed self-blame, proactive coping, and stress were interrelated with one another. Ethnicity differences were observed on proactive coping. Conclusions: Proactive coping mediated the relationship between self-blame and stress and was negatively related to the other included behavioral constructs.     

Working with Narratives

ABSTRACT

This article will discuss healing across cultures and describe narrative practice as a means of access to coping strategies in African American folk beliefs and traditional healing practices. Four elements were found in empirical research on folk healing among African Americans: spirituality, ritual, the power of words, and dreams. These culture-specific healing elements often emerge as themes in personal narratives about coping in response to stress, crisis, and trauma. Viewing healing elements as themes is a useful framework for construing meanings from clients' experiences of stress, trauma, and crisis and coping strategies embedded in folk beliefs and traditional healing practices.

Additionally, the author presents a structured interview questionnaire for identifying folk healing themes, illustrates narrative practice as an approach for integrating folk beliefs and healing practices, and discusses implications for clinical training.     

Comparison of two approaches to prevention of mental health problems in college students: Enhancing coping and executive function skills

Objective: College students face a significant number of stressors, increasing risk for internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. The current study examines two promising avenues of intervention aimed to reduce stress and prevent psychopathology in this population: a coping skills group and a cognitive training program. Participants: 62 undergraduate students from two universities were recruited from 2013 to 2015. Methods: Students were randomized to a 6-week coping skills group or cognitive training program and completed measures of stress, coping, executive function, and symptoms of anxiety, depression and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at pre- and post-intervention. Results: Participants in both conditions reported significant decreases in social stress, executive function difficulties, and anxiety symptoms post-intervention. Students in the cognitive program improved significantly more on measures of behavior regulation and ADHD symptoms compared to the coping group at post-intervention. Conclusions: Brief stress management interventions targeting coping and executive function may benefit college students at risk for psychopathology.     

Understanding stress as an impediment to academic performance

Abstract

Objectives: Stress is the most commonly reported impediment to academic performance among college students. The objectives of this study were to examine the accuracy of these perceptions, identify demographic and psychosocial factors that distinguished among students who differed in perceptions of how stress affected their performance, and assess the relations between these factors and grade point average (GPA). Participants: Undergraduate students (N?=?8,997) from 20 Midwestern schools. Methods: Participants completed online surveys during February–March 2015 that assessed perceived impediments to academic performance, cumulative GPA, demographic information, and psychosocial factors. Results: Students who reported that stress affected their performance had lower GPAs, and reported more stress and lower coping self-efficacy, resilience, and social support. Male, heterosexual, and ethnic-minority students were less likely to report having stress (but did not have higher GPAs). Conclusion: Stress reduction interventions should target psychosocial factors related to perceiving stress as an impediment and to poorer performance.     

Prevalence and Predictors of Social Work Student Food Insecurity

ABSTRACT

Food security is an essential component of material wellness and social justice. This study draws on a 2013 survey of 496 students within a school of social work in a Pacific Northwestern U.S. public university to (a) provide the first estimate of the prevalence of food insecurity among social work students and (b) investigate coping strategies used and resources accessed by students. It was determined that 43% of students had experienced food insecurity in the preceding year. In addition, students in the BSW program, students of color, females, and first-generation college students were more likely to be food-insecure. Based on these findings, the article describes strategies for addressing the material and self-care needs of social work students and practitioners.     

A Student-to-Student Dental Outreach Program

Abstract

Objective: This study investigates the individual, interpersonal, and institutional level factors that are associated with overall mental health among college students. Participants: Data are from an online cross-sectional survey of 2,203 students currently enrolled at a large public university. Methods: Mental health was ascertained using a subcomponent of the RAND Medical Outcomes Study functioning and well-being measures developed by the RAND corporation. Stepwise regression was used to determine if self-reported measures of individual (ie, coping abilities), interpersonal (ie, intergroup awareness), and institutional (ie, campus climate/tension) level factors were associated with overall mental health, after controlling for demographic characteristics. Results: The combined effects of both individual and institutional level measures were associated with student mental health. In particular, limited coping abilities and a perceived racially tense campus climate contributed to the psychological distress of college students. Conclusions: Simultaneously addressing the individual and institutional level influences on mental health offers the most promising help for students.     

Mental Health and Clinical Correlates in Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,and Queer Young Adults

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the prevalence of mental health disorders and their clinical correlates in a university sample of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) students. Participants: College students at a large public university. Methods: An anonymous, voluntary survey was distributed via random e-mail generation to university students during April and May of 2011. LGBQ students were compared with their heterosexual counterparts on psychological and physical status as well as academic performance. Results: LGBQ students reported worse depressive symptoms, higher levels of perceived stress, considered themselves less attractive, and were more likely to be overweight. LGBQ students were significantly more likely to report histories of affective, substance use, and certain anxiety disorders as well as compulsive sexual behavior and compulsive buying. Conclusions: The higher rates of many psychiatric conditions among LGBQ students underscore the need for universities to provide LGBQ students a nonjudgmental environment to discuss sexual orientation and health issues.     

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.     

Coping and Regulating Emotions: A Pilot Study of a Modified Dialectical Behavior Therapy Group Delivered in a College Counseling Service

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the efficacy of a pilot program, aimed at treating college students with borderline personality disorder (BPD) using short-term, modified group dialectical behavior therapy at an Australian college counseling service (CCS). Participants: Seventeen enrolled college students aged between 18 and 28 (76.5% female), with a diagnosis of BPD completed the program between November 2009 and November 2010. Methods: Participants attended 8 2-hour group therapy sessions, held at the CCS during semester. Participants were assessed for levels of depression, anxiety, BPD traits, and coping strategies, at commencement and completion of the program. Results: There was a reduction in symptoms of depression and BPD traits, and an increase in adaptive coping skills, including problem solving, and constructive self-talk. There was no reduction in anxiety. Conclusions: The findings indicate promise for short-term treatment of college students with BPD. Implications and limitations are discussed, with emphasis on replication with a control group.     

Undergraduate students survey their peers on mental health: Perspectives and strategies for improving college counseling center outreach

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of the study was to examine student perspectives about college mental health including the primary mental health issues affecting students, common college student stressors, student awareness of campus mental health resources, and mental health topics students want more information about. Participants: Participants were 822 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in a private university. The study was conducted during September 2016. Methods: As part of a public health course in program planning, undergraduate students surveyed their peers about their experience with mental health and mental health resources. Results: Stress was perceived as the largest mental health issue. Students most wanted more information about school/work/life balance followed by stress management. Electronic newsletters, social media, and on-campus seminars were the top strategies that students suggested as ways to reach them. Conclusions: The results provide student perspectives on mental health that may be useful in developing effective outreach efforts.     

Puerto Rican Abusive and Non-Abusive Mothers' Beliefs About Appropriate and Inappropriate Child Discipline

Abstract

Qualitative findings from face-to-face interviews of a subset of participants in a large quantitative study are used to explore the perspectives of 10 professional Black women (PBW) regarding their definitions of spirituality and their experiences using this resource to cope with work-related stress. Findings include that many PBW do not differentiate between spirituality and religion and that they utilize spirituality-particularly prayer, meditation, and inspirational readings-to gain personal strength, inner peace, and guidance and to reflect on and reappraise stressful situations in the workplace. Further, many PBW view spirituality as a problem-focused, rather than an emotion-focused, coping strategy. Implications for social work practice and future research are offered.