Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence in psychosomatic patients - a contribution to construct validation

OBJECTIVE The objective of the present study is to contribute towards the validation of the SOC (Sense of Coherence) construct on the basis of data from psychosomatic patients. METHOD The study included a total of 1403 patients treated as out-patients or in consultations in the Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine at the Charité University of Medicine, Berlin, between July 2002 and October 2005. Correlations were tested between the sense of coherence (SOC-L9), sociodemographic variables and the following psychometric instruments: Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), Brief COPE, Questionnaire on Self-Efficacy, Optimism and Pessimism (SWOP-K9) and Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-20). RESULTS Associations were found between sense of coherence and age, but not with gender. In addition, high sense of coherence was correlated with high self-efficacy, optimism, subjective physical well-being and favourable coping strategies as well as with low perceived stress. CONCLUSION The results contribute to the validation of the SOC construct. Future investigations should include longitudinal studies of the precise association between sense of coherence and other psychological variables.