COPING WITH POTS RESULTS FROM SURVEY Georgina Hardy
Rationale and Aim Why I did it RATIONALE: currently no literature on coping with POTS, little on physical activity levels & quality of life AIM: quantify the influence of physical activity (PA) levels and coping strategies on quality of life (QoL) in women with POTS RESEARCH QUESTIONS: 1) Level of PA and most frequently used coping strategies? 2) Relationships between all 3 variables? 3) Predict QoL from coping strategies / PA levels?
Methodology RECRUITMENT: Advertised on social media by PoTS UK. PARTICIPANTS: 302 women over the age of 18, living in the UK. METHODS: online questionnaire with 3 sections -coping -physical activity -quality of life
A bit about coping Lazarus and Folkman (1984) Stressor (demand) Appraisal (evaluation) Responses (emotions) Coping (strategies) Individual differences e.g. mental toughness, personality factors, gender
Types of Coping Problem focused coping = efforts to alter / manage the problem that is causing stress Active coping Positive Reframing Acceptance Emotional Support Instrumental Support Planning Humour Religion Emotion focused coping = regulation of emotional responses that arise from the stress Self-distraction Denial Substance Use Behavioural Disengagement Venting Self-blame
Methodology - measures Coping Strategies The Brief COPE - 14 subscales: self-distraction, active coping, denial, substance use, use of emotional support, behavioural disengagement, venting, positive reframing, planning, humour, acceptance, religion and self-blame. - 28 questions 2 for each subscale - Answers on scale of 1 (I don t do this at all) to 4 (I do this a lot) - Higher score = higher use of strategy
Methodology measures Physical Activity Levels International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) - Frequency, intensity and duration - Over last 7 days days per week & number of minutes per session - Categories: vigorous, moderate, walking
Methodology measures Quality of Life The 36 Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) Physical Component: - Physical functioning - Bodily Pain - General Health - Role limitations due to physical health Mental Component: - Energy/fatigue - Emotional well-being - Social Functioning - Role limitations due to emotional health 36 questions relating to 8 subcategories
Methodology - Statistical Analysis Completed in SPSS Final sample of 275 after removing outliers Spearmans correlation direction and strength of relationship Main analysis: two hierarchical regression analyses for PCS and MCS controlled for age by entering first, then PA, then coping strategies that were found to be correlated to QoL
RESULTS
Quality of Life Mental (39/100) higher than physical (27/100) component score Physical component 11% of QoL predicted by PA and coping strategies Mental component 24% of QoL predicted by PA (walking and vigorous) and coping All small to moderate effects as so many other variables affect QoL. Future research
Coping & Quality of Life Most and least used strategies Subscales M SD Problem 2.64.50 focused coping Active coping 3.11.78 Positive 2.50.92 reframing Acceptance 3.16.74 Emotional 2.51.92 support Instrumental 2.57.89 support Planning 3.08.78 Humour 2.56 1.04 Religion 1.63.95 Emotion 2.04.51 focused coping Self-distraction 2.67.85 Denial 1.70.92 Substance use 1.31.64 Behavioural 1.97.85 disengagement Venting 2.21.85 Self-blame 2.38.93 Positive Predictor - Positive reframing Negative predictors - Self-blame - Substance use Predictors only in mental component
Physical Activity and Quality of Life 20% no PA at all Walking most common form of PA Category M SD Vigorous 301.09 656.69 Moderate 64.95 126.43 Positive Predictors - Vigorous PA - Walking Walking 611.28 1007.33 Total PA 977.32 1352.51 Minutes per week
Walking is just as effective as vigorous exercise for increasing QoL So what? Filled gap in literature Use of problem focused coping strategies more effective than emotion Possible benefit of psychological interventions to increase QoL by decreasing self-blame and increasing positive reframing Reiterates the importance of exercise
Main Points for POTS Patients Coping - increase use of positive reframing (look at things in a more positive light) - minimise self-blame Physical Activity - Increase physical activity levels every little helps!
g.hardy4896@student.leedsbeckett.ac.uk georgina_isabel@hotmail.co.uk