TRANSFORMATION OF COPING STRATEGIES AMONG MILITARY PERSONNEL IN THE CONTEXT OF RELATIONAL IMAGERY AND SCENARIO THERAPY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/psyspu/2026.1.18Keywords:
coping strategies; military personnel; Relational Imagery and Scenario Therapy; psychotherapeutic intervention; psychological adaptation; avoidant coping; Brief COPEAbstract
Under conditions of martial law, the issue of psychological adaptation of military personnel acquires particular significance. Coping strategies serve as a key mechanism for regulating psycho-emotional states and determine the effectiveness of stress management. Investigating the impact of psychotherapeutic interventions on the structure of coping is an important direction in applied military psychology. The aim of the study was to examine the dynamics of coping strategies among military personnel under the influence of Relational Imagery and Scenario Therapy (RIST) within a quasi-experimental pre-test → post-test design and to compare the patterns of change with control and clinical samples. The study involved service members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (N = 57 at the stage of complete data analysis). Three groups were formed: an experimental group (n = 19) who received RIST; a control group (n = 24) who did not participate in any psychotherapeutic intervention; and a clinical group (n = 24) consisting of service members with borderline anxiety-depressive disorders undergoing treatment in a psychiatric inpatient setting. Coping strategies were assessed using the Brief COPE inventory (Carver, 1997). In the RIST group, a tendency toward an increase in problem-focused coping was observed, with no statistically significant changes in emotion-focused or avoidant coping strategies, indicating a stabilizing effect of the psychotherapeutic intervention. In the clinical group, a statistically significant decrease in both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping with large effect sizes was found, along with a tendency toward reduction in avoidant coping strategies. Between-group analysis revealed the most pronounced differences in change trajectories between the control and clinical groups. RIST does not produce a sharp transformation of coping structure; however, it contributes to the preservation of adaptive potential and prevents the reduction of problem-focused coping strategies under conditions of psycho-emotional strain. The most pronounced restructuring of the coping profile was observed in the clinical sampl
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