Strategies and personal resources of coping in mental adaptation of women with facial skin cosmetic problems

Relevance. Facial skin cosmetic problems are associated with a high level of stress [21; 34; 5]. Coping strategies and personal resources represent the mechanisms of psychological adaptation to stress [1; 16] in the general framework of person’s mental (biological, psychological and social) adaptation [3]. In national literature there are no screening data on the level of mental adaptation/ desadaptation and peculiarities of stress-overcoming behavior in female patients treated at the cosmetology clinic.

Objective. The aim is to study strategies and personal coping resources of cosmetology clinic patients with different levels of mental adaptation.

Methods. We examined 161 patients admitted to the cosmetology clinic with an average age of (39.5 ± 0.9) years. The patients were split into two groups: group 1 (n = 74, or 45.9 %) did not reveal any disorders of psychological adaptation; group 2 (n = 87, or 54.1 %) revealed a reduced level of psychological adaptation. The groups were not significantly different according to sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Using psychological methods, the groups were compared in terms of perceived stress, social frustration, frequency of psychic and traumatic situations, coping strategies and personal coping resources. We used statistical data analysis methods (Pearson’s χ2 and ANOVA included in the statistical package SPSS 25.0).

Results and discussion. The indicators of perceived stress and social frustration, as well as frequency of traumatizing situations was significantly higher in the group 2 compared to group 1. The indicators for the “Escape & Avoidance” (p = 0.001), “Distancing” (p = 0.014), “Self-Control” (p = 0.061) and “Responsibility Acceptance” (p = 0.006) strategies were significantly higher in Group 2 compared to Group 1. Individual coping resources, i.e. life and sense orientations related to the evaluation of one’s past, present and future, as well as the level of internalization, were significantly higher (p = 0.001) in group 1 compared to group 2.

Conclusion. The decrease in psychic adaptation level in cosmetology clinic patients is related to emotionally oriented coping strategies of care (evasion), strategies caused by anxiety, guilt or own insolvency, as well as the external locus of control. Limitations and perspectives of studying psychological characteristics of cosmetology clinic patients are provided.

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