Predictors of coping efficacy, negative moods and post-traumatic stress syndrome following major trauma.

The purpose of the study was to test relationships among injury appraisals, coping, social support and outcomes of coping efficacy, mood states and post-traumatic stress syndrome. A purposive sample of 152 hospitalized patients a week following major trauma was recruited from two trauma centres. The measures included the modified Ways of Coping Scale; the brief Social Support Questionnaire; the brief Profile of Mood State; the Impact of Event Scale; and selected demographic and injury related variables. Data were analyzed by multivariate statistics. The results indicated that perceived controllability, satisfaction with social support, wishful-thinking coping and problem-focused coping were the significant predictors for coping efficacy; perceived stressfulness, problem-focused coping and wishful thinking explained a significant amount of variance in mood states; avoidance coping and wishful-thinking coping were predictors for post-traumatic stress syndrome. The moderating effects of emotion-focused coping at high and medium levels were identified.