The Effects of Solution-Focused Group Counseling on the Stress Response and Coping Strategies in the Delinquent Juveniles

Concern about student mental wellbeing in university students is high, and first-and second-year students in particular have shown higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress. Evidence indicates that there is a value in context specific mental health literacy interventions embedded into regular academic classes, and that coping strategies help students to not only deal with stress but also to improve cognitive motivation and academic achievement. Within our second-year mechanical engineering academic program, we implemented an embedded series of interventions with the goal of helping students develop and use coping strategies in the face of stress. We found that students could describe their own stress response and coping strategies, and over 80% expected content on stress response and coping strategies would be useful in their own lives. About half of students viewed the interventions as beneficial to them. A third of students expected the activities would positively impact their academics, while another third felt they would have no impact. Test anxiety increased over the year, which we felt was a reasonable result given the rigour of the program. Since we did not have a control group, we could not determine whether our intervention led to lower levels of test anxiety than would have otherwise occurred. Our results suggest that academic buoyancy (day-to-day resilience in an academic program) is a critical skill - low academic buoyancy was a significant predictor of increased test anxiety, while low self-efficacy was not. This finding, along with students responses indicating the usefulness of the interventions, support our approach of introducing coping skills into an academic engineering program.

Download Full-text

The Self-Efficacy in Multiple Sclerosis (SEMS) Scale

European Journal of Psychological Assessment ◽

10.1027/1015-5759/a000350 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 34 (5) ◽

pp. 352-360 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Silvia Bonino ◽

Federica Graziano ◽

Martina Borghi ◽

Davide Marengo ◽

Giorgia Molinengo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Multiple Sclerosis ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

Measurement Invariance ◽

Sense Of Coherence ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Concurrent Validity ◽

Rasch Analysis ◽

Well Being ◽

Psychological Well Being ◽

And Coping

Abstract. This research developed a new scale to evaluate Self-Efficacy in Multiple Sclerosis (SEMS). The aim of this study was to investigate dimensionality, item functioning, measurement invariance, and concurrent validity of the SEMS scale. Data were collected from 203 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients (mean age, 39.5 years; 66% women; 95% having a relapsing remitting form of MS). Fifteen items of the SEMS scale were submitted to patients along with measures of psychological well-being, sense of coherence, depression, and coping strategies. Data underwent Rasch analysis and correlation analysis. Rasch analysis indicates the SEMS as a multidimensional construct characterized by two correlated dimensions: goal setting and symptom management, with satisfactory reliability coefficients. Overall, the 15 items reported acceptable fit statistics; the scale demonstrated measurement invariance (with respect to gender and disease duration) and good concurrent validity (positive correlations with psychological well-being, sense of coherence, and coping strategies and negative correlations with depression). Preliminary evidence suggests that SEMS is a psychometrically sound measure to evaluate perceived self-efficacy of MS patients with moderate disability, and it would be a valuable instrument for both research and clinical applications.

Download Full-text