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Biomedical subjects

S E Hobfoll

Publications and source records attributed to S E Hobfoll.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

How loss affects anger and alienates potential supporters.

The effects of loss of resources and illness symptoms on experienced anger, anger expression, and supporter's anger was studied among patients with severe chronic breathing disorder. Both illness symptoms and resource loss were related to greater anger. Angry feelings, in turn, led to more angry behavior. This angry behavior, in turn, resulted in increased anger of supporters. This process illustrates how chronic stress depletes both personal resources and social resources, making the individual increasingly vulnerable to further stressful experiences, inevitably to be confronted in chronic stress sequences.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

Conservation of resources in community intervention.

Evaluated the applications of principles of resource conservation and management in community interventions and compared these to a more individual, perception-based psychological perspective. Conservation of resource theory suggests that promotion of well-being and prevention of disease depend on the availability and successful management of resources. When resources are lacking, lost, or when invested without consequent gain, people become vulnerable to psychological and physical disorder and debilitated functioning. Resources, in this context, are defined as those things people value or those things that may help people obtain that which they value. Conservation of resource theory further suggests that resources are to a large extent common to all people, more common within a given culture and time in the developmental cycle, and only to a small extent idiographic. Further, conservation of resource theory posits that resources operate within an ecological context where feedback, sharing, and exchange operate between the individual, social context, and environment. Given these principles, it is reasoned that community interventions must acknowledge the solid base of most problems and accept that interventions must target resources and be intensive enough to change the ecology in which resources operate.

Community Mental Health Services↗
PubMed1991

War-related stress. Addressing the stress of war and other traumatic events.

A task force on war-related stress was convened to develop strategies for prevention and treatment of psychological, psychosocial, and psychosomatic disorders associated with the Persian Gulf War and other extreme stressors facing communities in general. The task force focused on the return home, reunion, and reintegration of service personnel with their families and work. Although the Persian Gulf War was won with relative ease, negative psychological sequelae may develop in some individuals because of the stress of war, family disruption, financial difficulty, and changes in family routines. Typical stress reactions and modes of coping that are usually unsuccessful or destructive were outlined, and suggestions were made for monitoring these. In addition, guidelines for successful coping were developed. Special attention was given to children's reactions and needs. Recommendations were made for outreach and intervention on the policy, systems (e.g., schools, businesses, governmental agencies), family, and individual levels.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1989

Conservation of resources. A new attempt at conceptualizing stress.

Major perspectives concerning stress are presented with the goal of clarifying the nature of what has proved to be a heuristic but vague construct. Current conceptualizations of stress are challenged as being too phenomenological and ambiguous, and consequently, not given to direct empirical testing. Indeed, it is argued that researchers have tended to avoid the problem of defining stress, choosing to study stress without reference to a clear framework. A new stress model called the model of conservation of resources is presented as an alternative. This resource-oriented model is based on the supposition that people strive to retain, project, and build resources and that what is threatening to them is the potential or actual loss of these valued resources. Implications of the model of conservation of resources for new research directions are discussed.

Humans↗
PubMed1989

Predicting receipt of social support: a longitudinal study of parents' reactions to their child's illness.

A sample of 101 women whose children required medical attention were interviewed at the time of initial hospital contact and again 1 year later. On the second occasion, their spouses were also interviewed for their assessment of their wives' personal and social characteristics. Greater personal resources, more intimate relations, and lower discomfort in seeking support were related to greater receipt of social support 1 year later. Chronic stress conditions were found, however, to diminish the effect of individuals' social characteristics on receipt of support. Spouses assessments showed moderate agreement with that of their wives, lending support to the validity of the findings. Implications for interventions in health-care settings were discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗