title: Satisfaction with life and coping skills in the acute and chronic urticaria.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in satisfaction with life and coping strategies between patients with acute and chronic urticaria.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty patients with urticaria were divided into 2 groups after 6 weeks of standardized dermatology treatment (33 patients with acute and 27 patients with chronic urticaria). At baseline, all patients answered the following questionnaires: Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI-A), The Multidimensional Coping Inventory (COPE) and General questionnaire (age, gender, education, employment, marital status). After six weeks all the participants were re-tested with 2 questionnaires: SWLS and PWI-A.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six weeks after the initial testing there was a statistically significant difference in satisfaction with life between patients with acute and chronic urticaria. Patients with acute urticaria were more satisfied with their lives than patients with chronic urticaria. Also, there was a statistically significant difference in the use of emotion-focused coping, seeking social support for emotional reasons and seeking social support for instrumental reasons. Patients with acute urticaria used emotion-focused coping and sought social support for emotional and instrumental reasons to a greater degree than patients with chronic urticaria.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with acute urticaria were more satisfied with their lives than patients with chronic urticaria. Patients with acute urticaria used emotion-focused coping and sought social support for emotional and instrumental reasons to a greater degree than patients with chronic urticaria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Clinical Hospital Rijeka, Cambierieva 17/7, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia, sblazevic@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Sandra Blažević
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Zelić
authors.forename: Gordana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rubeša
authors.forename: Ines
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Brajac
authors.forename: Marija Vučić
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Peitl
authors.forename: Eduard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pavlović
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease / Q000523:psychology; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012944:Social Support; D014581:Urticaria / Q000523:psychology*