[Sense of coherence and psychosomatic treatment outcome. An empirical study of salutogenesis].

According to Aaron Antonovsky's model of salutogenesis health protective resources by him conceptualised as "sense of coherence" (SOC) determine decisively the ability to recuperate. We investigate the relationship between treatment outcome and the sense of coherence measured by the SOC questionnaire at the beginning (n = 81), during the inpatient treatment phase and 6 month later (n = 70). For testing the psychometric qualities we obtained additional data from the outpatient department (n = 461). SOC-Score increased significantly during inpatient treatment. Outcome of treatment could not be predicted by the initial SOC, but we found a highly significant relation between an increase in the SOC value and a decrease in complaints (SCL-90-R, r = .81). In our opinion, the application of the SOC in psychosomatic patients is restricted, because there is a high overlap with psychic complaints (i.e. anxiety, depression).