Showing papers by "Jessie Dezutter published in 2022"
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors investigated the role of one possible underlying mechanism between positive/negative religious coping styles and depressive symptoms in geriatric patients, namely the developmental process of integrity and despair as two factors within this mechanism.
Abstract: Older persons are often confronted with challenging events in their lives. Religion can offer them a way to deal with these challenges. The study of religious coping styles helps us to understand how people find support in their religion or wrestle with aspects of their religion when they are confronted with difficulties. Especially when older adults face illness and hospitalization, religious coping styles might be triggered. Despite the fact that the public role of religion, especially Christianity, is diminishing in West European societies, a large group of Belgian geriatric patients call themselves religious. Previous studies have shown that there is a link between positive/negative religious coping styles and the depressive symptoms that often occur in older adults. More recently, some scholars have emphasized that this relationship is more complex. Therefore, this paper investigates the role of one possible underlying mechanism between positive/negative religious coping styles and depressive symptoms in geriatric patients, namely the developmental process of integrity and despair as two factors within this mechanism. One hundred thirty-nine geriatric inpatients from three hospitals in Belgium who reported to feel religiously affiliated were involved in this study. Our results indicate that experiences of integrity and despair function as an explanatory pathway in the relationship between negative religious coping styles and depressive symptoms. Further, a direct link was found between both when accounting for experiences of integrity and despair. For positive religious coping styles, no direct or indirect relationship with depressive symptoms was found. In healthcare, geriatric caregivers need to be aware of the interaction between positive and negative religious coping styles, the developmental process of integrity and despair, and depressive symptoms.
1 citations
TL;DR: In this article , a cross-sectional study examined hope as a mediating pathway in the association between positive/negative religious coping and depressive symptoms in 155 hospital inpatients in Belgium that self-reported to be religious.
Abstract:
Research on the pathways through which positive/negative religious coping (PRC/NRC) styles work, is sparse. This cross-sectional study examined hope as a mediating pathway in the association between PRC/NRC and depressive symptoms in 155 hospital inpatients in Belgium that self-reported to be religious (mostly Catholic, Christian or religious without affiliation to a religious institute). Patients relying more on NRC tend to have more depressive symptoms through the mechanism of hope. Interestingly, the direct relationship found between NRC and depressive symptoms points to the likelihood of an omitted mediator requiring further research. Patients more often using PRC tend to have fewer depressive symptoms through the mechanism of hope. No direct relationship between PRC and depressive symptoms was found.
1 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors investigated whether existential anxiety and focusing manner, that is, the ability to attend to one's bodily felt experiences, mediated the relation between meaning experience and the severity of depression.
Abstract: Difficulty in the experience of meaning has been both theoretically and empirically linked with depression. This cross-sectional study first aimed to replicate the association between difficulty in meaning experience and depression in a sample of 77 psychotherapists and counselors (77.1% females; Mage: 49; SDage = 12.25). Second, this study wanted to extend the body of research findings by investigating whether existential anxiety, and focusing manner, that is, the ability to attend to one’s bodily felt experiences, mediated the relation between meaning experience and the severity of depression. Surprisingly, meaning experience did not show a significant association with severity of depression. Furthermore, existential anxiety mediated the association between meaning experience and severity of depression. Focusing manner showed no significant mediating role in the relationship between meaning experience and severity of depression. These findings suggest that existential anxiety might be an important underlying mechanism in depressive disorder. Addressing the anxiety evoked by existential questions in the patient’s life might be important in the psychotherapeutic treatment of depression. Future prospective research is needed to further disentangle the relationship between meaning experience, depression, focusing, and existential anxiety.
TL;DR: In this paper , a Front.Psychol. Psychol., 10 March 2022Sec. 20.2022, 10.3389/fpsyg.861479.
Abstract: EDITORIAL article Front. Psychol., 10 March 2022Sec.Health Psychology https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.861479
TL;DR: In this paper , the longitudinal predictive effect of meaning in life for the psychological and cognitive functioning of older adults with Alzheimer's disease and whether cognitive decline predicted presence of meaning was examined.
Abstract: Studies show the importance of the personal experience of meaning in life for older adults, but adults with dementia have been largely excluded from this research. The current study examined the longitudinal predictive effect of meaning in life for the psychological and cognitive functioning of older adults with Alzheimer's disease and whether cognitive decline predicted presence of meaning in life. On three yearly measurement occasions, presence of meaning in life, depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, and cognitive functioning were assessed in structured interviews with a convenience sample of 140 older adults with Alzheimer's disease from nine nursing homes in Belgium. Cross-lagged panel and latent growth curve models were used to analyze the longitudinal relationships between the variables. Over the three measurement waves, participants with higher presence of meaning reported lower depressive symptoms one year later. Presence of meaning and life satisfaction predicted each other over time, but only between the first and second wave. The analyses showed no strong evidence for a longitudinal association between meaning in life and cognitive functioning in either direction. The findings emphasize the importance of the experience of meaning in life for the psychological functioning of older adults with Alzheimer's disease. The lack of evidence for associations between meaning and cognitive functioning questions the prevailing view that intact cognitive abilities are a necessity for experiencing meaning. More attention to the potential of meaning interventions for persons with dementia is warranted.
TL;DR: In this article , the longitudinal predictive effect of meaning in life for the psychological and cognitive functioning of older adults with Alzheimer's disease and whether cognitive decline predicted presence of meaning was examined.
Abstract: Studies show the importance of the personal experience of meaning in life for older adults, but adults with dementia have been largely excluded from this research. The current study examined the longitudinal predictive effect of meaning in life for the psychological and cognitive functioning of older adults with Alzheimer's disease and whether cognitive decline predicted presence of meaning in life. On three yearly measurement occasions, presence of meaning in life, depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, and cognitive functioning were assessed in structured interviews with a convenience sample of 140 older adults with Alzheimer's disease from nine nursing homes in Belgium. Cross-lagged panel and latent growth curve models were used to analyze the longitudinal relationships between the variables. Over the three measurement waves, participants with higher presence of meaning reported lower depressive symptoms one year later. Presence of meaning and life satisfaction predicted each other over time, but only between the first and second wave. The analyses showed no strong evidence for a longitudinal association between meaning in life and cognitive functioning in either direction. The findings emphasize the importance of the experience of meaning in life for the psychological functioning of older adults with Alzheimer's disease. The lack of evidence for associations between meaning and cognitive functioning questions the prevailing view that intact cognitive abilities are a necessity for experiencing meaning. More attention to the potential of meaning interventions for persons with dementia is warranted.