THE EFFECTS OF INFORMATION, DISTRACTION AND COPING STYLE ON SYMPTOM REPORTING DURING PRETERM LABOR

Women hospitalized for preterm labor were randomly assigned to three c onditions: information (n=20), distraction (n=20) and a control condit ion (n=21). They completed a Dutch version of the Pennebaker Inventory of Limbic Languidness (Pennebaker, 1982), before (half the subjects) and directly after the intervention (all subjects). It turned out that the distraction intervention had the most beneficial effect on the re porting of physical as well as psychological symptoms, which is in lin e with theories underscoring the adaptiveness of distraction under unc ontrollable stress. The expected interactions between coping style (mo nitoring and blunting, measured with the MBSS: Miller, 1987) and type of intervention on posttest symptom reporting were reflected in mean s ymptom scores, but did not reach statistical significance. In one case only (blunting x condition on psychological symptoms) a tendency was found, in the direction expected, with high blunters benefiting most f rom the distraction intervention. With a greater N and a longer follow -up, a more pronounced result could probably have been obtained. At th e same time it has become clear that an information condition has to b e created with great care if high monitors are to benefit from it, par ticulary in a stress situation with many unpredictable and uncontrolla ble aspects.