Coping strategies of hospitalized people with psychiatric disabilities in Taiwan

Research has found that people with psychiatric disabilities Taiwan tended to utilize passive and emotional-focused strategies to cope with their illness unlike Western studies. A self-reported questionnaire that incorporated categories: socio-demographic characteristics, the self-impact of illness, illness adaptation, and coping strategy scale was administrated to 140 persons with psychiatric disabilities routinely hospitalized over a long period of time to explore the strategies of coping with their mental disorders. Analysis of survey data found the sense of helplessness and the overall illness adaptation significantly impact negative emotion coping utilization. Those who felt highly impact by the illness, more sense of helplessness, less actively managing their illness, and more social support availability were more likely to use positive emotion as a coping strategy. The better overall adaption to the illness significantly impact procrastination and previous illness experience utilization. Only a positive coping strategy was found significantly to manage the illness.