A Comparative Study of Depression and Stress Related Life Events among Women in the Menopausal Stage / 간호학회지

The purpose of this study was to examine the comparative between depression and stress related to life events among women in the menopausal stage. Menopausal stages were divided into two groups: Pre and post- menopausal stages. The degree of depression and stress related to life events between pre and post menopausal women were compared to each other. Women, aged between 41 and 59 years, answered self-reported questionnaires which included Zung's depression scale and life events scale modified by Lee (1984). Findings were as follows; 1) The mean score of premenopausal women who experienced depression was 39.66, and for post-menopausal women the score was 41.45. There was no significant differences in depression levels between pre and post menopausal group.s (t=-1.55, p=.122). 2) Menopausal women experienced low levels of stress related to life events. There were no significant differences between pre and post menopausal groups(t=.527, p>.05). Both pre and post menopausal groups were highly concerned about education issues of their children and disharmony between couples. 3) There was a significant relationship between depression and stress related to life events among post-menopausal groups (r=.22, p<.01). Based on the findings of this study, the menopausal depression was associated with stress related to life events, especially among post-menopausal women. Feelings of lost fertility and feminine attributies result in menopausal depression, which is significantly correlated with women's negative perception of their life events. Therefore, nursing intervention needs to develop to help reduce the levels of depression and overcome their negative perception of the menopausal experience. Nurses should develop nursing strategies to help menopausal women to have positive perceptions and enhance quality of life by assisting their adaptability to physiological and psychological changes related to menopause.

Life Event Stress and Coping Strategies in Patients with Alopecia Areata and Androgenetic Alopecia / 대한피부과학회지

BACKGROUND: Psychosocial stress and stressful events in life have been reported to be closely related to the onset and acute exacerbation of some dermatologic disorders, such as alopecia areata, psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis and atopic dermatitis. However, the nature of the association between stress and dermatologic disorders remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to determine the relation of stress and the onset and exacerbation of dermatologic disorders. Furthermore we studied whether the coping strategies to stress are related to dermatologic disorders. METHOD: We examined 30 patients with alopecia areata, 30 patients with androgenetic alopecia who visited Dept. of Dermatology, Chung-Ang University Hospital and a control group of 30 who visited our clinic at the same time for tinea pedis and onychomycosis, which are supposed not to be related to stress. For the evaluation of stress we used questionares of 'Scale of Life Events' and 'Multidimensional Coping Scale'. RESULT: 1) The score of life event stress in the alopecia areata group was significantly higher than that of the normal control group. The score of life event stress in androgenetic alopecia was higher than that of the normal control group with no statistical significance. 2) In the aspect of coping strategies, the alopecia areata group was significantly higher than the normal control group at the passive withdrawal and fatalism, while in the normal control group, emotional pacification, positive comparison and religious seeking tended to be higher than the alopecia areata group. In the androgenetic alopecia group, no significant pathologic coping strategies were found compared with the control. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the psychosocial stress may play a role in the pathogenesis of alopecia areata and androgenetic alopecia. But to clarify the exact role of stress, further studies about biological parameters of physiologic changes to stress are needed in the future.

Life Event Stress and Coping Strategy in the Patients with Coronary Artery Disease / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed to investigate and compare the life event stress unit, coping strategy and other risk factors in coronary artery disease patients who visited Cardiovascular Division of Dept. of Internal Medicine Chung-Ang University Hospital. METHODS: Review of medical chart, semi-structured interview, Scale of Life Events and Multidemensional Coping Scale were applied to patients group(No.=26) who were diagnosed as cardiovascular disease at Cardiovascular Division Dept. of Internal Medicine, Chung-Ang University Hospital and control group(No.=37) who were screened as normal at Health Screening Center. The data were processed by T test and Chi-square test using SPSS version 7.0. RESULTS: 1) The scores of life event stress of patient group were significantly higher(372.34+/-172.81) than those of normal control group(228.27+/-116.37)(p<0.05). 2) In the aspect of coping strategies, the patients' group was significantly higher than normal control group at the fatalism, accomodation and self-criticism(p<0.05), while in the normal control group, the positive comparison and religious seeking tended to be higher than in the patients group, with no statistical significance. 3) Comparing other risk factors of coronary artery disease, the patients group was higher than the normal control group at the incidence of diabetes, hypo-HDL-cholesterolemia and hypertension(p<0.05). But the incidence of smoking, hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia did not differ significantly. CONCLUSIONS: The life event stress was found to be one of the risk factors of coronary artery disease. The passive-negative coping strategies, such as the fatalism, accomodation and selfcriticism, were also another risk factors.