A sense of coherence (SOC) among the fathers of children with chronic illnesses

Abstract

Aim: This study focuses on the fathers of children with chronic illnesses in an effort to clarify how the stressor and the father's sense of coherence (SOC) influence their mental health and how the father's SOC is associated with the social support.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Methods: We conducted a self-reported questionnaire survey of 137 respondents (51 fathers of children with chronic illnesses, 86 fathers of healthy children) were statistically using ANOVA.

Results: The fathers' stressor was significantly related to their SOC. Furthermore, the SOC of the fathers majorly influenced their mental health, while having a buffering effect on the stressor with respect to depression. And their SOC was significantly positively associated with the social support. Our findings underscore that father's SOC has a buffering effect on self-mental health and is important for maintaining mental health and enhancing SOC to reduce the stressors of these fathers with respect to depression.

Keywords: children with chronic illnesses; depression; fathers; sense of coherence; social support.