Gender, age and proactive coping as predictors of coping in patients with limb amputation

Patients with indications of amputation experience stressful situations of high intensity as several stressors combine, including particularly the surgical procedure, pain, immobilisation, hospitalisation, and concerns about future. The intensity of the stressful situation can be so high that patients do not have the ability to cope with it. In such situations, the nursing diagnosis “Ineffective Coping” (00069) is given to patients, which requires an intervention. In clinical decision-making, nurses should take various predisposing factors into consideration regarding patient care to predict the development of coping. The research objective was to study the effects of gender, age and proactive coping strategies on the effectiveness of coping in patients with lower limb amputation. The research included 50 respondents (25 women and 25 men) with the indicated amputation of a lower limb. We used the NOC (Nursing Outcomes Classification) scale – Coping (1302) to assess the effectiveness of coping, and the PCI (Proactive Coping Inventory) to assess proactive coping. The software SPSS 22.0 was used for statistical data analysis. The gender and age do not prove to be statistically significant predictors of coping in patients with lower limb amputation. Three proactive coping strategies are suggested as significant predictors of effective coping (Preventive Coping, Avoidance Coping, and Strategic Planning). Knowing the preferred coping strategies in patients can be beneficial for nurses as it is the main predictor of coping with amputation in patients.