Psychological adjustment of adults with sickle cell anemia: stability over 20 months, correlates, and predictors.

The stability of psychological adjustment was assessed across three time points spanning a 20-month period with 59 African-American adults with sickle cell anemia. Stable good adjustment was associated with lower levels of daily and illness-related stress, palliative methods of coping with stress, and pain coping strategies characterized by negative thinking/passive adherence. With baseline levels of illness and demographic parameters controlled, baseline levels of daily and illness-related stress made significant independent contributions to adjustment at 20 months follow-up. The findings are discussed in relation to the potential utility of improving methods of coping with stress and pain to enhance the adjustment of patients with sickle cell anemia.

Duke Scholars

Author Robert J. Thompson Jr. Psychology & Neuroscience