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The effects of expression: how providing emotional support online improves cancer patients' coping strategies.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Emotional support has traditionally been conceived as something a breast cancer patient receives. However, this framework may obscure a more complex process, facilitated by the emerging social media environment, which includes the effects of composing and sending messages to others. Accordingly, this study explores the effects of expression and reception of emotional support messages in online groups and the importance of bonding as a mediator influencing the coping strategies of breast cancer patients. METHODS:Data were collected as part of two National Cancer Institute-funded randomized clinical trials. Eligible subjects were within 2 months of diagnosis of primary breast cancer or recurrence. Expression and reception of emotionally supportive messages were tracked and coded for 237 breast cancer patients. Analysis resulted from merging 1) computer-aided content analysis of discussion posts, 2) action log analysis of system use, and 3) longitudinal survey data. RESULTS:As expected, perceived bonding was positively related to all four coping strategies (active coping: β = 0.251, P = .000; positive reframing: β = 0.288, P = .000; planning: β = 0.213, P = .006; humor: β = 0.159, P = .009). More importantly, expression (γ = 0.138, P = .027), but not reception (γ = -0.018, P = .741), of emotional support increases perceived bonding, which in turn mediates the effects on patients' positive coping strategies. CONCLUSIONS:There is increasing importance for scholars to distinguish the effects of expression from reception to understand the processes involved in producing psychosocial benefits. This study shows that emotional support is more than something cancer patients receive; it is part of an active, complex process that can be facilitated by social media.

SUBMITTER: Namkoong K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3881999 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported online in Emotion on Sep 5 2019 (see record 2019-52812-001). In the article, two text call outs for figures are incorrect. At the end of the "Negative emotional responses" section under the "Psychological Stress Responses" heading, "(see Figure 7)" should have been deleted. Under the "Negative task-related ruminative thoughts" heading in that same section, "(see Figure 5)" in the first paragraph should be "(see Figure 7)."] Expressing emotions is a common strategy for coping with stress. Yet, little is known about the effects of using this strategy in close relationships, or when and for whom emotional expression is effective. This study examined romantic partner responsiveness and the dispositional tendency to use emotional approach coping (EAC; the processing and expression of emotions) as moderators of the effects of experimentally manipulated emotional expression on stress responses to a laboratory stressor. We brought couples (N = 145) to the lab and randomly assigned 1 partner (the participant) to perform a stressful task. We manipulated whether participants expressed their feelings about the task to their partner (expression vs. no-expression), and whether participants received supportive messages from their partners (as an indicator of partner responsiveness; support vs. no-support). We examined physiological stress responses (cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase [sAA]), negative emotional stress responses (anxiety and self-conscious emotions), and post-task ruminative thoughts. Participants high in EAC showed larger sAA and cortisol responses and reported more negative post-task ruminative thoughts after emotionally expressing to their partners, but partner support mitigated the effect on cortisol. Participants low in EAC showed smaller cortisol responses and reported less negative emotional responses and fewer negative post-task ruminative thoughts after emotionally expressing to their partners. Receiving partner support reduced negative emotional responses for people high in EAC, but increased negative emotional responses for those low in EAC. These results may help explain when and for whom emotional expression is an effective means of coping in the immediate context of a stressor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Project description:BackgroundThe combination of stressors unique to the athletic context plus the sensitive developmental phase that elite athletes go through during their peak performance may increase the athletes' vulnerability to mental health decrements. To emphasize the necessity to raise elite athletes' awareness of health risks, it seems to be essential to teach them coping skills to handle stress and to make affected athletes aware of how to recognize, evaluate, and articulate potential risks to their health.ObjectiveThis systematic review analyzes coping strategies used by elite athletes to deal with stress and the effect of these strategies on mental health to identify gaps that future research could prioritize.MethodsThe current review analyzes studies containing quantitative, qualitative, and mixed data and results, all of them focusing on coping strategies to deal with stress and the effect of coping strategies on elite athletes' mental health. Literature search for this systematic review took place between August and October 2023 and included the use of 3 electronic databases: PubMed, PsychINFO, SPORTdiscus.ResultsThere were initially 5,705 hits from 3 electronic databases, hand search and from a complementary search in Google Scholar. After the screening process and quality appraisal 30 studies were included. The analyzed study results point to a broad spectrum of coping categories, elite athletes make use of to deal with stressful situations. The results of this review underpin the necessity that especially young athletes being confronted with a wide range of stressors, need to be taught mental skills to cope with these stressors. In addition, teaching coaches and teammates about social support seemed to decrease elite athletes' stress reactions, such as anxiety or depressive symptoms.ConclusionCoping in elite sporting settings is very complex and dynamic. There is evidence of coping being effective to buffer stress, but the interrelationships between stressor, appraisal of the stressor, application of a corresponding coping strategy and its effect especially in terms of mental health outcomes is still unclear because of lacking intervention-based study designs.

Project description:Patients diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) face sudden-onset life-threatening disease that requires intensive treatments. Although their early disease trajectory is characterized by significant, toxic side effects, limited data are available describing coping strategies among patients with AML and how these inform patient-reported outcomes. We used cross-sectional secondary data analyses to describe coping in 160 patients with newly diagnosed high-risk AML. The Brief COPE, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version, and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Leukemia were used at time of AML diagnosis to measure coping strategies, psychological distress, and quality of life (QOL), respectively. The median split method for distribution of coping domains and multivariate regression models were used to assess the relationship between coping and patient-reported outcomes. Participants (median age, 64.4 years) were mostly non-Hispanic White (86.3%), male (60.0%), and married (73.8%). Most (51.9%) had high utilization of approach-oriented coping strategies, whereas 38.8% had high utilization of avoidant coping strategies. At time of diagnosis, use of approach-oriented coping was associated with less psychological distress (anxiety, β = -0.262, P = .002; depression symptoms, β = -0.311, P < .001; and posttraumatic distress disorder symptoms, β = -0.596, P = .006) and better QOL (β = 1.491, P = .003). Use of avoidant coping was associated with more psychological distress (anxiety, β = 0.884, P < .001; depression symptoms, β = 0.697, P < .001; and posttraumatic distress disorder symptoms, β = 3.048, P < .001) and worse QOL (β = -5.696, P < .001). Patients with high-risk AML use various approach-oriented and avoidant coping strategies at time of diagnosis. Use of approach-oriented coping strategies was associated with less psychological distress and better QOL, suggesting a possible target for supportive oncology interventions.

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The effects of expression: how providing emotional support online improves cancer patients' coping strategies.

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