Stress and Stress Coping of Patients with Chronic Illness in a Community, Roi Et Province

Abstract

            This cross–sectional study aimed to survey the stress and stress coping among patients with chronic illness and study the correlation between stress and stress coping. Fifty–two patients with chronic illness in Thamung district, Selaphum, Roi Et province were recruited using the simple random sampling technique. Data were collected from February 7th to March 13rd, 2020. The research instruments included the stress test (SPST–20), developed by the department of Mental Health, and the Jalowiec coping scale (JCS). The reliability of JCS was tested with the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.86. Data were analyzed using the frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. The correlation was analyzed using the Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient.

             The results revealed that the majority of participants were female (63.50%), age ≥60 (76.90%), graduated from primary school (90.40%), income insufficiency (73.10%) and indebtedness (63.50%). Of these, 34.60% had illness >10 years, 98.10% could control chronic illness and 84.62% had good–tempered and cool personality. The majority of patients had the moderate level of stress (78.84%). Regarding the coping pattern, they commonly used indirect coping strategy (Mean = 0.40, S.D. = 0.46). Their stress was significantly correlated with the total stress coping in a linear manner (r = 0.573, p < 0.001).

            Keywords: Stress, Stress coping, Patients with chronic illness