Background: Identifying the profiles of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients who employ similar patterns of coping may improve the understanding of how coping is associated with psychological adjustment. The purpose of this study was to identify the groups of MS patients using different coping strategies and compare the levels of psychological resources across the groups.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study 382 patients with MS completed a battery of self-report measures that assessed their use of different coping strategies, optimism, self-efficacy, health locus of control (HLC), and perception of disease. The groups with different coping profiles were selected by performing a cluster analysis.
Results: Five different coping profiles were highlighted and were defined as follows: "Emotional," "Temperate," "Active," "Passive," and "Problem copers." Significant differences were detected between the groups in the levels of optimism, self-efficacy, HLC, and perception of disease.
Conclusion: Patients with MS use a varied repertoire of coping strategies, which allowed distinguishing coping profiles. Groups representing particular profiles differ in terms of psychological resources. This study contributed to increasing the interest in investigating coping profiles. Identifying subgroups of individuals based on their coping profiles and recognizing the differences is important for providing psychological support.
Keywords: Coping profiles; Health locus of control; Illness perception; Multiple sclerosis; Optimism; Self-efficacy.
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