Coping Strategies in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

imbalance of neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, intestinal infec tions and inflammation, as well as psychosocial factors1. Among the psychosocial factors are the stressful life events, which can precipitate the onset of the clinical picture and subsequent exacerbations because they have an influence on the modulation of the symptom experienced Abstract Introduction Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is the most frequent diagnosis of digestive disorders in primary care services and may be one of the most difficult diseases to manage. According to the criteria of ROMA it’s an abdominal discomfort or pain that yields to defecation, change in the frequency of bowel movements or in the form of feces for 12 weeks. The prevalence in our country varies between 9 and 18%, more frequent in women, in the third and fourth decade of life, with an increase during adolescence. The IBS is associated with work absenteeism, decreased quality of life and high costs in medical care. Among the factors besides stress is the coping style, and refers to the ability to estimate and re- spond to a stressful event. It has been found that an effective coping strategy plays a significant role in mitigating anxiety, depression and somatic problems. Objective To determine if patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome seen in a Primary Care Clinic, present an active coping focused on problems as a predominant coping strategy. Comparative, observational study, with patients with IBS diagnosed by the criteria of ROMA and healthy, women between 25 and 50 years of age, seen in primary care visits and healthy controls recruited in a shopping center of the same age range. We used the BRIEF COPE questionnaire from Carver, modified, Likert-type scale with 41 items that value Life’s Vision, Ways to Manage Stress and the List of Emotions. The SPSS version 20 for Windows was used. Descriptive statistics for frequencies and percentages and chi2 for the crossing of demographic data with the Brief Cope questionnaire with statistical significance of p <0.05.