Lisa M. Perez

Bio: Lisa M. Perez is an academic researcher from Minnesota State University, Mankato. The author has contributed to research in topics: Coping (psychology) & Mental health. The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 12 publications receiving 4192 citations. Previous affiliations of Lisa M. Perez include National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health & Bowling Green State University.

Patterns of positive and negative religious coping with major life stressors.

Abstract: This study attempted to identify positive and negative patterns of religious coping methods, develop a brief measure of these religious coping patterns, and examine their implications for health and adjustment. Through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, positive and negative religious coping patterns were identified in samples of people coping with the Oklahoma City bombing, college students coping with major life stressors, and elderly hospitalized patients coping with serious medical illnesses. A 14-item measure of positive and negative patterns of religious coping methods (Brief RCOPE) was constructed. The positive pattern consisted of religious forgiveness, seeking spiritual support, collaborative religious coping, spiritual connection, religious purification, and benevolent religious reappraisal. The negative pattern was defined by spiritual discontent, punishing God reappraisals, interpersonal religious discontent, demonic reap praisal, and reappraisal of God's powers. As predicted, people made more use of the positive than the negative religious coping methods. Furthermore, the two patterns had different implications for health and adjustment. The Brief RCOPE offers an efficient, theoretically meaningful way to integrate religious dimensions into models and studies of stress, coping, and health.

The many methods of religious coping: Development and initial validation of the RCOPE

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a new theoretically based measure that would assess the full range of religious coping methods, including potentially helpful and harmful religious expressions. The RCOPE was tested on a large sample of college students who were coping with a significant negative life event. Factor analysis of the RCOPE in the college sample yielded factors largely consistent with the conceptualization and construction of the subscales. Confirmatory factor analysis of the RCOPE in a large sample of hospitalized elderly patients was moderately supportive of the initial factor structure. Results of regression analyses showed that religious coping accounted for significant unique variance in measures of adjustment (stress-related growth, religious outcome, physical health, mental health, and emotional distress) after controlling for the effects of demographics and global religious measures (frequency of prayer, church attendance, and religious salience). Better adjustment was related to a number of coping methods, such as benevolent religious reappraisals, religious forgiveness/purification, and seeking religious support. Poorer adjustment was associated with reappraisals of God's powers, spiritual discontent, and punishing God reappraisals. The results suggest that the RCOPE may be useful to researchers and practitioners interested in a comprehensive assessment of religious coping and in a more complete integration of religious and spiritual dimensions in the process of counseling.

Secondary Traumatic Stress and Burnout among Law Enforcement Investigators Exposed to Disturbing Media Images

Abstract: This study examines the psychological impact of viewing disturbing media on investigators engaged in computer forensics work. Twenty-eight federal law enforcement personnel who investigate Internet child pornography cases completed measures of secondary traumatic stress disorder (STSD) and burnout. Substantial percentages of investigators reported poor psychological well-being. Greater exposure to disturbing media was related to higher levels of STSD and cynicism. STSD and burnout scores were related to increased protectiveness of family, reliance on co-workers, general distrust, and turnover intentions. On a positive note, investigators scored high in professional efficacy, indicating they feel their work makes a difference. Furthermore, personnel with supportive relationships scored lower on both STSD and burnout.

Turnover in health care: the mediating effects of employee engagement

Abstract: Aim This study aimed to understand the interaction between interpersonal respect, diversity climate, mission fulfilment and engagement to better predict turnover in health care. Background Registered nurse turnover has averaged 14% and current nursing shortages are expected to spread. Few studies have studied employee engagement as a mediator between organisational context and turnover. Method Study participants were employees working within 185 departments across ten hospitals within a large healthcare organisation in the USA. Although a total of 5443 employees work in these departments, employee opinion survey responses were aggregated by department before being linked to turnover rates gathered from company records. Result Engagement fully mediated the relationship between respect and turnover and the relationship between mission fulfilment and turnover. Diversity climate was not related to turnover. Conclusion Turnover in health care poses a significant threat to the mission of creating a healing environment for patients and these results demonstrate that workplace respect and connection to the mission affect turnover by decreasing engagement. Implications for nursing management The findings demonstrated that to increase engagement, and improve turnover rates in health care, it would be beneficial for organisations, and nurse management to focus on improving mission fulfilment and interpersonal relationships.

Coping: Pitfalls and Promise

Abstract: Coping, defined as the thoughts and behaviors used to manage the internal and external demands of situations that are appraised as stressful, has been a focus of research in the social sciences for more than three decades. The dramatic proliferation of coping research has spawned healthy debate and criticism and offered insight into the question of why some individuals fare better than others do when encountering stress in their lives. We briefly review the history of contemporary coping research with adults. We discuss three primary challenges for coping researchers (measurement, nomenclature, and effectiveness), and highlight recent developments in coping theory and research that hold promise for the field, including previously unaddressed aspects of coping, new measurement approaches, and focus on positive affective outcomes.

Positive change following trauma and adversity: a review.

Abstract: Empirical studies (n = 39) that documented positive change following trauma and adversity (e.g., posttraumatic growth, stress-related growth, perceived benefit, thriving; collectively described as adversarial growth) were reviewed. The review indicated that cognitive appraisal variables (threat, harm, and controllability), problem-focused, acceptance and positive reinterpretation coping, optimism, religion, cognitive processing, and positive affect were consistently associated with adversarial growth. The review revealed inconsistent associations between adversarial growth, sociodemographic variables (gender, age, education, and income), and psychological distress variables (e.g., depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder). However, the evidence showed that people who reported and maintained adversarial growth over time were less distressed subsequently. Methodological limitations and recommended future directions in adversarial growth research are discussed, and the implications of adversarial growth for clinical practice are briefly considered.

On seeing human: A three-factor theory of anthropomorphism.

Abstract: Anthropomorphism describes the tendency to imbue the real or imagined behavior of nonhuman agents with humanlike characteristics, motivations, intentions, or emotions. Although surprisingly common, anthropomorphism is not invariant. This article describes a theory to explain when people are likely to anthropomorphize and when they are not, focused on three psychological determinants--the accessibility and applicability of anthropocentric knowledge (elicited agent knowledge), the motivation to explain and understand the behavior of other agents (effectance motivation), and the desire for social contact and affiliation (sociality motivation). This theory predicts that people are more likely to anthropomorphize when anthropocentric knowledge is accessible and applicable, when motivated to be effective social agents, and when lacking a sense of social connection to other humans. These factors help to explain why anthropomorphism is so variable; organize diverse research; and offer testable predictions about dispositional, situational, developmental, and cultural influences on anthropomorphism. Discussion addresses extensions of this theory into the specific psychological processes underlying anthropomorphism, applications of this theory into robotics and human-computer interaction, and the insights offered by this theory into the inverse process of dehumanization.

Life between clocks: daily temporal patterns of human chronotypes.

Abstract: Human behavior shows large interindividual variation in temporal organization. Extreme "larks" wake up when extreme "owls" fall asleep. These chronotypes are attributed to differences in the circadian clock, and in animals, the genetic basis of similar phenotypic differences is well established. To better understand the genetic basis of temporal organization in humans, the authors developed a questionnaire to document individual sleep times, self-reported light exposure, and self-assessed chronotype, considering work and free days separately. This report summarizes the results of 500 questionnaires completed inapilotstudy.Individualsleeptimesshowlargedifferencesbetweenworkand freedays,exceptforextremeearlytypes.Duringtheworkweek,latechronotypes

The many methods of religious coping: Development and initial validation of the RCOPE

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a new theoretically based measure that would assess the full range of religious coping methods, including potentially helpful and harmful religious expressions. The RCOPE was tested on a large sample of college students who were coping with a significant negative life event. Factor analysis of the RCOPE in the college sample yielded factors largely consistent with the conceptualization and construction of the subscales. Confirmatory factor analysis of the RCOPE in a large sample of hospitalized elderly patients was moderately supportive of the initial factor structure. Results of regression analyses showed that religious coping accounted for significant unique variance in measures of adjustment (stress-related growth, religious outcome, physical health, mental health, and emotional distress) after controlling for the effects of demographics and global religious measures (frequency of prayer, church attendance, and religious salience). Better adjustment was related to a number of coping methods, such as benevolent religious reappraisals, religious forgiveness/purification, and seeking religious support. Poorer adjustment was associated with reappraisals of God's powers, spiritual discontent, and punishing God reappraisals. The results suggest that the RCOPE may be useful to researchers and practitioners interested in a comprehensive assessment of religious coping and in a more complete integration of religious and spiritual dimensions in the process of counseling.