A sense of coherence (SOC) among the fathers of children with chronic illnesses.
Masahiro Haraguchi, Tomoko Takeuchi
PMID 38618873WHAT IT FOUND
Fathers of children with chronic illness who had lower sense of coherence, a measure of flexible stress response, had poorer mental health when stressors were high.
Social support was linked to higher sense of coherence.
Key findings
01Among fathers of children with chronic illnesses, under a high stressor, the low sense of coherence group had significantly worse mental health than the high sense of coherence group.
02Sense of coherence was significantly positively correlated with social support, instrumental support, and emotional support.
03For fathers of children with chronic illnesses, sense of coherence was significantly positively correlated with social support, instrumental support, and emotional support.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that sense of coherence or social support caused better mental health. The sample was small, especially the 51 fathers of children with chronic illnesses, which limits generalisation. The response rate was 12.0% for fathers of children with chronic illnesses and 16.4% for fathers of healthy children, so participants may differ from fathers who did not respond. The authors note that they did not fully cover disease severity and classification, and future work should consider confounding factors. No intervention was tested, so the nursing support suggestions are based on associations.
Declared interests
No conflict of interest was declared. The study was funded by Japan Society for the Promotion Science (JSPS).
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that raising fathers' sense of coherence improves mental health. This was a cross-sectional survey, and the paper did not test an intervention.