RESOURCES, COPING STRATEGIES AND POSTTRAUMATIC GROWTH IN TRANSCARPATHIA DURING WARTIME
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32689/maup.psych.2025.4.3Keywords:
war-related crisis, coping strategies, resilience, posttraumatic growth, social support, spirituality, ruminationAbstract
The Russian–Ukrainian war has created a prolonged crisis context accompanied by sustained psychosocial burden. The aim of this pilot study was to explore psychological resources, coping strategies, and posttraumatic growth (PTG) among mental health helpers in Transcarpathia, with a particular focus on Hungarian-speaking professionals, to compare helper and nonhelper respondents, and to identify predictors of a resilient profile. Standardized self-report measures were applied to assess trauma-related distress (IES-6), coping tendencies (CISS-21), situation-specific coping strategies (Ways of Coping Checklist), and posttraumatic growth (PTGI; adapted version). A factor analysis of the extended CISS-21 block was conducted to refine the coping repertoire. Due to non-normal distributions, non-parametric tests (Mann–Whitney U) and binary logistic regression were used. Cluster comparisons were conducted in a sample of N=171; helper vs. non-helper comparisons were conducted separately on scale-specific subsamples, and due to missing data, subsample sizes varied (up to n=40 and n=169). Factor analysis identified 11 interpretable coping dimensions. Helpers showed higher rank means in personal growth (p=0.005) and action orientation (p=0.021). Based on mental health indicators, two clusters emerged: a resource-deficient (N=90) and a highfunctioning, resilient cluster (N=81). The resilient cluster was characterized by lower maladaptive emotion-focused coping and rumination, alongside higher levels of problem-focused coping, social support, and religious–spiritual coping (p≤0.016). PTG represented one of the strongest differentiating patterns between clusters (Z=-4.833; p<0.001) and remained a significant predictor in the regression model. These findings suggest that resilience in a war context is associated not only with reduced psychological burden but also with enhanced meaning-making and positive psychological change. Interventions should therefore focus on strengthening problem-focused coping, mobilizing social and spiritual resources, and reducing ruminative processes.
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