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Abstract
The article presents the results of an empirical study on the relationship between the level of psychotraumatic distress and coping behavior strategies among the wives of military personnel under the conditions of full-scale war. The relevance of the study is driven by the growing prevalence of traumatic stress manifestations among family members of military personnel and the need for further scientific substantiation of measures for their psychological support.
The aim is to empirically investigate the level and structure of traumatic distress and the characteristics of coping behavior among the wives of military personnel, as well as to establish the nature of the relationship between the severity of distress and the types of coping styles (problem-oriented, emotion-oriented, avoidant).
The study involved 30 women aged 24 to 54 whose partners are military personnel. Given the sample size, the results are of a pilot nature. The obtained data are a component of a broader dissertation study on the post-traumatic growth of family members of military personnel and will be further integrated with the results of other methods on an expanded sample.
For diagnostics, a Ukrainian-adapted version of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and a situational version of the Brief-COPE questionnaire were used to determine the coping style. It was established that the results of 80% of the respondents exceed the recommended threshold of clinical significance according to the IES-R (> 30 points), which indicates pronounced symptoms of traumatic stress. Among the more pronounced coping styles, emotion-oriented and avoidant styles can be distinguished. A statistically significant direct relationship was found between the level of distress and the positive reframing strategy, which is a component of the problem-oriented coping style (rs = 0.56; p = 0.001). For the subscales «turning to religion» (rs = -0.35; p = 0.055) and «behavioral disengagement» (rs = -0.32; p = 0.083), moderate (weak) inverse correlations were revealed.
The practical significance of the study lies in forming an empirical foundation for developing psychological recommendations and support programs for family members of military personnel, aimed at supporting adaptation to prolonged stress, developing resilience, actualizing adaptive coping resources, and creating prerequisites for post-traumatic growth.
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