Life meaningfulness and ways of psychosocial coping of people with disabilities and chronic illnesses in the Republic of Tatarstan

Abstract

The present article provides insight into the interrelation between life meaningfulness of people with disabi lities and chronic illnesses and ways of coping at different levels of health loss. The research is based on the idea that meaning in life is an important coping resource when people have serious health related problems. The present paper sought to test th e hypothesis that the level of life meaningfulness is associated with ways of coping. The study involved 439 people with disabilities related to various chronic somatic diseases. Participants were divided into several groups according to the degree of health loss and the predominant area of dysfunction in everyday life activity (communication, self-care, movement, professional occupation). The authors analyzed the associations between level of life meaningfulness and different ways of coping such as coping strategies, psychological defenses, and type of compensatory y behavior using linear regression.