Stress coping in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases

The aim of the study is to compare personality characteristics and coping strategies in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) - Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) in the background of physiological theories of stress, psychoneuroimunology and psychoneuroendocrinology. The main hypotheses were that patients with IBD score higher in neuroticism and conscientiousness, use more negative coping strategies and consequently suffer from more stress. A group of 25 IBD patients was investigated and compared to 25 respondents without the disease. The used questionnaires were NEO-FFI, SVF 78 and Stress Profile. The results of parametric t-tests and non-parametric Mann Whitney U tests confirmed that patients with active disease and in remission as well scored higher in neuroticism and used more negative coping strategies (specifically in Resignation and Self-accusation). At all the patients the neuroticism correlates with using negative coping strategies (p=0,692; p<0,001), but not at the group of non-patients. Relapsed patients suffer from stress more than non-patients.