title: Psychological changes accompanying and mediating stress-management training for essential hypertension.
abstract: In a previous controlled study, 21 participants with essential hypertension were treated with a program based on education, relaxation and D'Zurilla problem-solving training, and another 21 participants were assigned to a waiting list control condition (García-Vera, Labrador, & Sanz, 1997). In this report, the pre-post-treatment psychological changes accompanying those conditions were examined with the Jenkins Activity Survey, the Rosenbaum Self-Control Schedule, the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the D'Zurilla-Nezu Social Problem-Solving Inventory. Treatment yielded significant psychological changes that included an increase of problem-solving abilities. Moreover, correlation and multiple regression analyses revealed that, when clinic blood pressure (BP) values were considered, increases in problem-solving abilities were correlated with systolic and diastolic BP reductions for participants in the stress-management condition, and they mediated partially the antihypertensive effects of stress-management training on BP. No significant correlations were found between psychological changes and self-measured systolic or diastolic BP reductions.
authors.affiliation: Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: García-Vera
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sanz
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Labrador
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000145:classification; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D001794:Blood Pressure; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013315:Stress, Psychological