Abstract:

The sense of coherence is a resource related to a sense of comprehensibility, resourcefulness, and meaningfulness. Its level is responsible for regulating the individual's behavior, especially in difficult situations. People with a high sense of coherence show a greater ability to mobilize resources that help them cope in a stressful situation. Whereas, people with a low sense of coherence in a stressful situation will probably immediately cease their efforts and stop trying to overcome difficulties. A high level of sense of coherence is conducive to effectively struggling with difficult experiences, for example with illness or disability.

The aim of the article is to present the results of research conducted in Poland on the sense of coherence in the group of people with disabilities. The results are presented along with the assignment to three trends.

The first trend of research concerns mainly psychological correlates of the sense of coherence and is located within the psychology of health. The most important findings in this trend confirm the functional meaning of the sense of coherence in a difficult situation such as disability [e.g. Byra, 2010; Kirenko, Byra, 2008]. The second trend concerns school functioning and indicates the relationship between coping with difficult school situations and the sense of coherence [e.g. Czerwińska, 2009; Gosk, Dominiak-Kochanek, 2014; Hintze, 2015]. In turn, the third trend focuses on determining the conditions of the sense of coherence, such as the attitudes of parents [e.g. Gosk, 2014; Gosk, Dominiak-Kochanek, Kulesza, 2015].

The presented results show that the type and severity of disability or illness is important for the level of the sense of coherence. Due to the role of this resource in dealing with difficult situations, it would be advisable to include therapeutic activities into the support process already at the school level, when the process of shaping this variable is still taking place.

Keywords:

Sense of coherence, SOC, adolescent, resources.