The Function of Occupational Activity for Health as Perceived by Chronically Ill People.

Existing studies confirm the benefits of employment for chronically ill persons' health, but few studies so far have delved into how they themselves perceive employment in relation to their health. There is also a paucity of information about individual factors influencing the formation of their perceptions. This study sought to determine differences between chronically ill persons with and without jobs regarding their perceptions of the function of employment for the physical, mental and social dimensions of health, as well as how their occupational activity or inactivity moderates the associations between the perception of work as health beneficial or health adverse and selected individual characteristics, such as self-efficacy, acceptance of illness, actualisation of self, and psychosocial problems. The study involved 80 adults with chronic illnesses and was conducted using the following psychological tools: the WH Scale, the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale, the Acceptance of Illness Scale, the Actualization of Self Scale and the Psychosocial Problems of Persons with Chronic Illness Scale. It has been found that the way in which chronically ill persons perceive the function of employment for health is unrelated to whether or not they have a job, and that occupational activity moderates associations between the sense of self-efficacy and the perception of work as benefitting health.

Selected Personality Traits and Employment as the Predictors of the Intensity of Psychosocial Problems Experienced by Chronically Ill Patients.

BACKGROUND: This study sought to determine the effect of being employed or unemployed on the relationships between selected personal variables (acceptance of one's illness, self-efficacy, and self-actualization) and the intensity of psychosocial problems experienced by chronically ill persons (ChIP). PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURES: The PCH-R Scale, the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale, the Acceptance-of-Illness Scale, and the Self-Actualization Scale were used to collect information from 236 employed and unemployed ChIP. RESULTS: Acceptance of illness and self-efficacy predicted the intensity of general psychosocial problems and problems in the personal, family, social, and occupational spheres in both employed and unemployed ChIP. CONCLUSIONS: The results can significantly contribute to increasing the effectiveness of treatment and support offered to ChIP. Continued employment or reemployment after a period of intense therapy can protect them from a rapid degradation of their personal-and frequently, socio-economic-resources, which are necessary for them to be able to adapt to new challenges and maintain a good quality of life, despite experiencing a chronic illness.

Developmental Changes in the Locus of Control in Students Attending Integrated and Non-integrated Classes during Early Adolescence in Poland.

This article reports the results of a longitudinal study on the development of context-specific locus of control related to situations of success and failure in Polish adolescents. The participants were 90 primary school students, including 30 who learned in integrated classrooms and 60 who went to non-integrated classes in schools with and without an inclusive curriculum, located in Lublin, Poland. The students were surveyed during a three-year schooling period (when they were in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade). The research was carried out in the years 2016-2019. The Locus of Control Questionnaire (LOQ and LOQ-R) by Krasowicz-Kupis and Kurzyp-Wojnarska measured locus of control. These instruments measure generalized locus of control and allow the assessment of context-specific locus of control related to situations of success and failure, as well as school, parent, and peer settings. At the first stage of this study, students in non-integrated classrooms in schools without an inclusive curriculum were characterized by a more internal locus of control, both generalized and in situations of failure, compared to students of non-integrated classrooms in schools with an inclusive curriculum. At seventh grade, students of integrated classes were more external in situations related to their school activity, compared to their peers from non-integrated classrooms. Moreover, we observed developmental changes in locus of control of students from non-integrated classes but only those who attended schools with an integrated curriculum.

[The feeling of hopelessness and ways of coping with stress in women after preterm delivery]. / Poczucie beznadziejnosci a style radzenia sobie ze stresem u kobiet po porodzie przedwczesnym.

OBJECTIVES: The goal of this work was to compare ways of coping with stress used by women after preterm delivery and term delivery, as well as to determine possible connection between hopelessness and ways of coping with stress in these two groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 33 patients after preterm delivery and 54 after term delivery participated in the study The Beck Hopelessness Scale questionnaire (by Beck) to investigate hopelessness. the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations questionnaire (by Endler and Parker), and a personal questionnaire were used in the study. RESULTS: The two groups of women differed in their styles of the task-oriented coping. This style was significantly less frequent in the repertory of remedial behaviors in women after preterm delivery. Hopelessness reached similar levels in both groups, and was estimated as mild, and significantly correlated with coping styles with stress in both groups under study. CONCLUSIONS: A positive correlation between hopelessness and the emotions-oriented coping is very characteristic for both groups of women. This indicates that the tendency to use the emotions-oriented coping grows with an increasing feeling of hopelessness.