This article is about the informal learning that took place in an online divorce support and advice forum. In it, the author discusses the formation of a community of practice among the members during the first nine months of the site's operation. The author shows how the key markers of mutual engagement, joint enterprise and shared repertoire…

A visitor to Peter Green Hall Children's Centre's classroom for 4- and 5-year-olds broke down in tears when she saw their teacher Bobbi with a head bald from chemotherapy. The visitor said her sister-in-law had recently died of breast cancer. In the family's desperate need to cope with the situation, their children, 4 and 6 years old, were not…

Cyberbullying can have a variety of negative effects on student mental health (Internet Safety Technical Task Force, 2008). An understanding of students' coping with cyberbullying could help researchers and professionals to determine ways to alleviate and/or prevent the negative effects of cyberbullying. Qualitative methods were used to provide an…

Experiences of discrimination and racism and individual coping strategies were examined among 22 emerging adult Ethiopian immigrants in Israel. In-depth interviews explored the way they perceive, understand, respond to, and cope with experiences of discrimination. Qualitative analysis identified an initial contrast between those interviewees who…

While studies have shown that adults use smoking to deal with stress, little research has been carried out with children to explore their perceptions of smoking as a coping strategy. Qualitative questionnaire and interview data were generated with children aged 9-11 years. Participants perceived that adults smoked to relieve boredom and stress,…

Intervention research for couples and families managing chronic health problems is in an early developmental stage. We reviewed randomized clinical trials of family interventions for common neurological diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and diabetes, which is similar to the content of previous reviews discussed later. One overriding theme…

This paper investigates the nature and causes of vulnerability to bushfires in the Wulgulmerang district of East Gippsland, Victoria, in south-eastern Australia. In 2003 bushfires devastated the small population of this isolated farming district, destroying homes, agricultural assets and public infrastructure. The fires also adversely affected the…

In this paper, we utilize a sample of working adults (N = 362) in the context of the recent economic recession to explore the coping mechanisms associated with different career attitudes and their subsequent impact on important individual work outcomes. Results of structural equation modeling (SEM) demonstrated that boundaryless mindset and…

Through case presentation, this article illustrates the integration of person-centered skills and guided imagery into Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) with a Chinese female college student who was experiencing emotional distress due to relationship loss. Transcripts from select portions of actual counseling sessions further demonstrate the…

The current research comprises two samples that investigated the psychometric properties of the Problem-Focused Style of Coping (PF-SOC; Heppner, Cook, Wright, & Johnson) scale using two Taiwanese samples. In Sample 1 (N = 809), we investigated the structural dimensions of the PF-SOC using a principal component analysis (PCA) and confirmed…

Everyone experiences stress and needs extra help at times. Often this involves informal support, but in certain circumstances, help comes in the form of therapy. Sometimes there is a negative impression about "needing" therapy. But when the going gets tough, sometimes the tough go to therapy. With a wide range of factors working against them,…

School bullying is a serious, worldwide problem which is not easily counteracted. The present study focuses on the perspective of former victims, asking them what it was that made the bullying stop in their case. Participants were 273 18-year-old former victims in Sweden, a country in which schools are doing extensive work against bullying and the…

Background: Bereavement is potentially a time of disruption and emotional distress. For individuals with an intellectual disability (ID), a limited understanding of the concept of death may exacerbate this distress. The aim of the present study was to investigate how individuals with ID understand and explain death and make sense of life without…

Among the many life transitions that individuals must master throughout their lives, the transition to adulthood ranks very high in terms of importance, complexity and uniqueness. It involves the completion of education, and the assumption of new social roles and responsibilities, at a time when previous institutional structures that guided…

Grateful people experience more psychological well-being, social connectedness, and feelings of personal accomplishment, along with less burnout. They also use more adaptive approach-oriented coping strategies. Thus, we hypothesized that trait gratitude and grateful coping strategies would be associated with various indicators/predictors of…