Intacting Integrity in Coping with Health Issues

Abstract

The aim of this study was to discover and elaborate a general substantive theory (GST) on the multidimensional behavioral process of coping with health issues. Intacting integrity while coping with health issues emerged as the core category of this GST. People facing health issues strive to safeguard and keep intact their integrity not only on an individual level but also as members of a group or a system. The intacting process is executed by attunement, continuously minimizing the discrepancy between personal values, personal health, self-expectations, and external conditions as health- and culturally-related recommendations and demands. Multifaceted coping strategies are available and used as implements in the attuning process.

Keywords

• intacting;
• health issues
• coping strategies
• general substantive theory;