[Stress appraisals and coping process of school children with restrictions of mobility]

The purpose of this study was to describe the stress appraisals and coping process under the restriction of mobility. The subjects of this study were 25 hospitalized school-age children who had been on bed rest or restricted of walking more than six days. Participant observation and interview technique were used to collect the data. Within twenty five subjects, ten subjects were followed longitudinally from admission to discharge. The findings of the result were following. 1. Immobilized children demonstrated that they received a treat to their ego and they recognized their experience as a loss, harm, and threat in their real life. Those experiences harmed and threat their self-image. 2. In response to the immobilization (i.e. stressor), the coping style had changed during the course of immobilization period; beginning, during, and with out immobilization. A variety of coping strategies and behaviors which children used, showed a pattern for each stage. 3. The change of coping style indicated that the process of self-reconstruction which progress from self-preservation of ego threat, preparation for self-reconstruction, to full self-reconstruction. This process also indicated the process of their adjustment to the new environment and reconstruction of personal integrity.