title: The "Sense of Coherence" and the coping capacity of patients with Parkinson disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Antonovsky's salutogenic model of the "Sense of Coherence" (SOC) is an important resource in dealing with chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate SOC as a psychological factor and its correlation with illness, subjective well-being, and health-related quality of life (QoL) in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) compared to patients with other chronic diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-one patients suffering from PD and 59 participants with other chronic non-neurological diseases took part in this study. The PD patients were assessed through medical routine examinations and all participants were asked to complete several questionnaires for psychological assessment. In order to compare controls with the PD group, t-tests, U-tests, and multivariate analysis were conducted. Multiple regression analysis was calculated to identify predictor variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with PD were characterized by lower SOC and higher scores concerning depression compared to the control group (CG). Furthermore, the PD group showed fewer active coping strategies and lower scores concerning well-being. There were correlations between depression, coping, well-being and QoL, and SOC. The SOC had a particular predictive value with regards to the outcome "quality of life" and coping strategies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are a number of differences regarding psychological characteristics of coping mechanisms in neurological and non-neurological patients. The SOC correlated with several psychological factors; however, there was no correlation with medical data. The SOC predicts scores pertaining coping mechanism and health-related QoL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. Gisela.pusswald@meduniwien.ac.at
authors.forename: Gisela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pusswald
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fleck
authors.forename: Johann
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lehrner
authors.forename: Dietrich
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Haubenberger
authors.forename: Germain
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Eduard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Auff
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D001317:Austria; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D060685:Sense of Coherence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires