To Assess the Stress Level, Coping Strategies among Women Suffering from Chronic Diseases

Stress refers to the body's reaction to selected chronic diseases that requires a physical, mental or emotional adjustment or response as coping strategies. Coping strategy refers to activities and behavior of women suffering from chronic diseases which will help them in particular situation. Purpose To assess the stress level, coping strategies among women suffering from chronic diseases Pune, India. Objectives - To assess the stress level of women suffering from selected chronic diseases, to assess coping strategies of women suffering from selected chronic diseases, to correlate the stress level and coping strategies among women suffering from selected chronic diseases, to correlate the stress level and coping strategies with selected chronic disease, to find the association of the stress level and coping strategies among women with selected demographic variables. Methods This was a quantitative descriptive survey study of 40 women aged between 30-60 years, completed 2 -6 years of disease duration with chronic diseases like chronic renal disease, breast cancer and osteoarthritis of selected hospitals of Pune during February 2015 to June 2015. The assessment of the stress level and coping strategies were done from the chronic disease patients by self reporting and semi structured interview and in depth information collected according data collection tool. Results-87.5% of the women suffering from selected chronic diseases had severe stress (score 81-120) and 12.5% of them had moderate stress (score 41-80). , majority of 65% of the women suffering from selected chronic diseases had average coping strategies, 25% of them had good coping and 10% of them had poor coping. Therefore this study shows that there is increase in the stress and average to poor coping among woman suffering from chronic diseases. Conclusion The assessment of the stress level will help to know current psychology and the stress level and how to cope with chronic diseases to reduce stress level of woman and will help to control and prevent complications.