The Relationship between Belief in a Just World and Symptoms of Psychological Disorders in Burn Patients: The Intermediate Role of Coping Strategies

Abstract

The present research aims to investigate the relationship between belief in a just world (BJW) and the symptoms of psychological disorders given the intermediate role of coping strategies in burn patients. A total of 170 burn patients were selected from Rasht Burn Incident Center via random sampling and were introduced to the research. They filled the following psychological disorder questionnaires: Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90-R), Belief in a Just World Scale (Sutton & Douglas, 2005) and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) (Endler & Parker, 1990). The methodology of the research was the examination of correlation, and the proposed model was analyzed by means of structural equation modeling (SEM). Bootstrap technique was adopted to test the mediating effects in the proposed model. The results showed that BJW has a negative significant effect on psychological disorder symptoms in burn patients. Moreover, BJW has a positive significant effect on problem-focused coping strategy; however, it has a negative significant effect on emotion-focused and avoidance-focused coping strategies. The findings of the present study demonstrate the intermediate role of problem-, emotion- and avoidance-focused coping strategies in the relationship between BJW and symptoms of psychological disorders in burn patients.