Vol. 3, No. 3, 2002
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Original Article · Originalarbeit
Coping with a Chronic Illness - Processes
Underlying Perceived Stress and Coping Behavior in Adolescents with
Atopic Eczema
C. Salewski, A. Lissner
Dermatology and Psychosomatics / Dermatologie und
Psychosomatik 2002;3:132-138 (DOI: 10.1159/000066584)
![goto top of page](http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/Showpic.asp?filename="/images/global/odstop.gif") Summary
Background: Aim of the study was a deeper understanding of
the interactions between daily stressors, illness symptoms, and
coping efforts of adolescents with atopic eczema. Patients and
Methods: 25 adolescents kept a diary for a period of 3 months.
They reported day by day every incident of severe itching of the
skin, the preceding situation and their reaction. Cross-correlations
between the emerging timeseries of severity of itching, number of
stressful situations, and number of problem-orientated and
emotion-orientated coping behaviors were conducted. Results:
For the whole group of patients, itching was correlated with a
higher number of stressful situations one and two days before and
one day after itching. Itching was also correlated with
problem-orientated coping efforts on the following days, and with
emotion-orientated coping efforts on the days before. In turn,
severity of itching and problem-orientated coping predicted
stressful situations. Conclusions: A complex pattern of
correlations between stressful situations, itching and different
kinds of coping could be identified. The role of problem-orientated
coping deserves more attention. Scratching was reported as the most
prominent problemorientated coping action, but it leads to more
stress on the long run. Adolescents with atopic eczema should be
taught more effective coping behaviors, both problem- and emotion-
orientated.
Copyright © 2002 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg
Free Abstract
Article (PDF 125 KB)
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