%0 Journal Article
%T Coping with a Lower Limb Amputation due to Vascular Disease in the Hospital, Rehabilitation, and Home Setting
%A M¨Ślanie Couture
%A Johanne Desrosiers
%A Chantal D. Caron
%J ISRN Rehabilitation
%D 2012
%R 10.5402/2012/179878
%X Objectives. To explore the coping strategies used following a lower limb amputation and their relationship to adjustment in the hospital, rehabilitation, and home setting. Method. Sixteen individuals who had a lower limb amputation due to vascular disease completed questionnaires, including the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ), during hospitalization (T1), at the end of rehabilitation (T2), and 2-3 months after discharge from rehabilitation (T3). A subsample ( ) also participated in three semistructured interviews analyzed using the approach of Miles and Huberman. Results. Self-controlling was the coping strategy used most, followed by seeking social support and positive reappraisal. Three additional coping strategies not found in the WCQ were identified in the qualitative data: noticing progress, learning new things, and using humor. Confrontive coping (T1) and escape-avoidance (T1, T2, and T3) were related to adjustment problems while positive reappraisal (T1 and T3), seeking social support (T1 and T3), and planful problem solving (T3) were associated with positive adjustment. Conclusion. Coping strategies used to deal with the amputation seem to vary across settings, thus signifying the complexity of the coping process following a lower limb amputation due to vascular disease. 1. Introduction Following a lower limb amputation, many individuals face stressful situations such as phantom pain [1], loss of functional independence [2], and body image issues [3]. The coping abilities of individuals who had an amputation are greatly utilized and some may be overwhelmed by the task at hand. In fact, 15 to 42% of them develop depressive symptoms [4¨C9]. When facing a stressful situation, people react by using coping strategies, that is, they engage in multiple behavioral and cognitive efforts to regain or maintain their well-being [10]. Adjustment is the result of using various coping strategies to deal with the different stressful aspects of a situation, in this case, an amputation. Coping strategies targeting emotions caused by a stressful event (emotion-focused strategies) have been found to be related to psychosocial and functional adjustment following a lower limb amputation. A study by Hill et al. [11] revealed that the combination of three coping strategies, namely, catastrophizing, increase in behavioral activities and hoping/praying, accounted for a statistically significant proportion of functional ( ; ) and psychosocial ( ; ) adjustmentproblems even after controlling for demographic and amputation-related variables. Catastrophizing alone was a
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.rehabilitation/2012/179878/