Coping: conceptual and methodological issues

Nursing research has begun to explore the ways in which patients cope with the deleterious effects of physiological and psychological stressors, but the complexity of the construct of coping has been understated in such investigations. Clinical research in this area should reflect an appreciation of the multidimensionality of coping; the change that occurs in coping and its outcomes over time and across contexts; the salient variables that can affect the coping process, including stressor characteristics, environmental resources, and personal characteristics; and, the reciprocal nature of the relationship between coping and its adaptational outcomes.