Sense of coherence among patients with hemophilia. Preliminary studies

Abstract

Introduction. Hemophilia is an inherited plasma coupled with gender bleeding disorder the cause of which is deficiency or dysfunction of blood coagulation single factor. There are two types of hemophilia: A (lack of factor VIII) and B (deficiency of factor IX). The sense of coherence (SOC) is the belief that events and processes experienced by humans occur in accordance to their expectations, and the world is orderly and predictable. The sense of coherence consists of three components: 1/ the sense of comprehensibility, 2/ the sense of resourcefulness, 3/ the sense of purpose. A stronger sense of coherence makes man arrange adequate resources for a given situation and is able to fully make use of them.

Aim. The aim of the work is to assess the sense of coherence among patients with hemophilia. Material and methods: The research was conducted in January 2010 in the group of 35 males with hemophilia. The study used the Life Orientation Questionnaire (SOC-29) and the questionnaire constructed for the purpose of this survey.

The results. In twenty-nine respondents (82.8%) blood coagulation factor level was ≤ 1%, in 4 respondents (11.4%) it ranged between 1.1 and 3%. The other two patients (i.e. 5.7%) had coagulation factor levels >3%. Among 11 patients the frequency of bleeding exceeded five strokes in a month. The average value of SOC in the studied group of patients with hemophilia was 139.22 points, the highest overall score was received by 5 patients being between the ages of 18 to 25 years of age (= 145.80 points). From among the three components of SOC the highest value from all the patients concerned the sense of resourcefulness (= 49.94), Men aged 18-25 years received the highest score in this category (=54.6). Patients at the age of 26-35 years got the lowest average value of the total sense of coherence and in two of three SOC components (resourcefulness, and meaningfulness). 

Conclusion. The general sense of coherence for the patients was within the range of average normative values obtained by Antonovsky. The youngest patients at the age of: 18-25 years received the highest score.