Desire for control, felt control, and stress inoculation training during dental treatment

Coping style research has typically assessed subjects' desire for a coping resource, but ignored whether subjects possess that resource. In this study 110 dental patients were categorized as to their desire for and feelings of control and were randomly assigned, just prior to dental treatment, to a 20-minute Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) session or a Filler condition. SIT significantly reduced pain and increased control only for patients who initially reported a high desire for control coupled with low perceived control. This finding supports the view that the discrepancy between high desire for control and low perceived control plays a causal role in the elevated distress and pain initially reported by patients with such control perceptions. These data indicate that consideration of patients' perceived coping resources as well as their coping preferences adds to our ability to predict reactions to stress reduction manipulations.