Facilitating Coping Through Reflective Learning in Adult Education: A Review of the Reciprocal Relationship Between Coping and Learning

Coping Strategies and Their Influence on Learning

Three main coping strategies had been identified empirically. The problem-focused coping strategy involves task-oriented coping to solve the problem and eliminate situational stress factors, the avoidance coping strategy involves behaviors that suppress the problem and distract the individual from the problem, and, finally, the emotion-focused strategy involves activities to reduce anxiety and stress, that is, the focus is on altering the stress-related emotions (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Given the empirical support for the three coping types, most research on coping and learning distinguishes coping from problem, avoidance, and emotion-focused styles (Nielsen & Knardahl, 2014).

While coping is a mechanism that does not necessarily produce significant cognitive or behavioral changes, that is, coping can be a repressive and passive mechanism, learning always involves changes in cognitive and behavioral domains (Caffarella & Daffron, 2013). Learning how to cope with stressful situations is crucial in daily life as it can affect satisfaction with various life aspects, including learning and educational outcomes. Mudhovozi (2011) demonstrated in his study that students who tended to engage in avoidant-coping strategies, which are defined by ignoring the problem and engaging in unrelated and unproductive activities, perceived their academic experience as more stressful than other life areas. In light of these findings, learning how to cope in various stressful and learning-based settings is crucial for successful learning and educational outcomes (Deasy, Coughlan, Pironom, Jourdan, & Mannix-McNamara, 2014; De la Fuente, Martínez-Vicente, Salmerón, Vera, & Cardelle-Elawar, 2016).

Although research has shown that individual differences predict coping skills (Schwartz, Neale, Marco, Shiffman, & Stone, 1999), research shows that coping is an alterable trait and improves with increasing age (Bagana, Negovan, & Vanea, 2011; Trouillet, Doan-Van-Hay, Launay, & Martin, 2011). Because the relationship between learning and coping (LC) is interactive and reciprocal, coping skills can be facilitated through various learning strategies (Delahaij & Van Dam, 2016). How learning impacts coping and how coping impacts learning is the focus of this literature review. This article will examine how coping skills can be enhanced through learning-focused behaviors or in learning-friendly environments and which elements in the employed learning-oriented strategies mediate or explain effective coping.

Inclusion Criteria

The search strategy employed for this literature review involved the use of education source (EBSCO) and Google Scholar databases. The inclusion criteria for the topic included articles that reported on the effects of learning-based interventions on coping and vice versa. In all studies, participants had to be adult learners or adults who received learning opportunities or interventions that elicited an effect on coping behavior in adult learning-based contexts of any kind. The search terms were adult learning, coping, reflection, academic success, university students, and adult education. The search yielded 105 journal articles with relevant titles that were saved for further screening. After screening through the abstracts and content, eight articles were included, meeting the inclusion criteria of the relationship between coping and learning in adult receiving any form of training or education or learning intervention. Articles that studied coping in learning-based environments were excluded if they did not attribute learning outcomes to coping, or vice versa, specifically.

In other words, research on coping in learning environments did not immediately qualify for inclusion unless it demonstrated positive learning experiences, positive learning outcomes, or learning perseverance through coping-oriented processes, such as reflection. Studies showing a reverse relationship in which learning experiences promote coping met the inclusion criteria as well.

To gain a deeper understanding of how coping influences adult learning and vice versa, this review considered studies that explored the reciprocal effects of coping and learning based on self-report measures of experiences as they occur in real-life educational settings. Although all studies with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods designs were considered for this review, intervention studies using randomized control trials received special preference. Intervention studies using pretest–posttest measures imply that coping strategies can be acquired and may improve through learning-based interventions.

LC in Professional Training or Education Contexts

Generally, coping and learning tend to be latent and less observable constructs that rely on self-report measures in the form of instruments or interviews. The following sections will present research that studied adults whose coping and learning mechanisms were empirically explored as they traversed through professional or higher education on a daily basis. High levels of work-based demands and task complexity have an impact on problem solving through coping and learning in high-risk settings. Delahaij and Van Dam (2016) assessed the relationship between one’s attitude toward LC strategy. They used a single-group pretest–posttest design with a total of 236 military recruits in military training. Results showed that participants who scored high on learning orientation, that is, they did not avoid learning efforts, had a need for improvement and wanted to learn or master a new skill, employed a problem-focused coping, as opposed to emotion-focused coping.

The learning goal approach to coping allowed military recruits to not only manage stress more effectively but also to achieve desired learning and training outcomes. More importantly, Delahaij and Van Dam (2016) identified metacognitive awareness as the mediator between learning goal orientation and problem-focused coping strategy. Metacognitive awareness occurs when the individuals have an increased awareness of how one learns and acquires knowledge. This means that being aware of one’s learning habits and learning behavior facilitates adjustment and modification of one’s learning strategies. Metacognition helps with stress regulation via critical reflections on the experiences of stressful situations (Delahaij & Van Dam, 2016).

Because working in a military setting is not the only high-risk situation that involves tasks of high-complexity and ambiguity, the importance of learning how to cope through reflection is evident in many other high-stress practice areas. Engel et al. (2006) conducted a qualitative study on the most effective and common coping strategies among 26 resident physicians who are learning in high-risk environments. The top two common and effective mechanisms described by residents were talking with a diversity of groups, such as talking with other medical professionals and with family and friends, and learning and changing in reaction to making mistakes and stressful situations in general.

Furthermore, having conversations and learning were closely linked together, leading to coping with emotional distress. Having discussions enabled residents to identify how they could change their approaches and working styles and reduce anxiety and other negative emotions (Engel et al., 2006). Engel et al. (2006) called such coping through dialogue and reflection constructive coping because it facilitates making sense and meaning of one’s own critical experiences.

Coping and problem solving is just as important in educational settings where ambiguity and highly complex tasks exist at high levels. Based on a study by Proost, van Ruysseveldt, and Van Dijke (2012), educators are likely to experience emotional exhaustion leading to turnover in response to unmet expectations, which is the discrepancy between what the employee experiences at work and what the employee expected to experience. While unpredictable problems can lead to high levels of stress and emotional exhaustion, Proost et al. (2012) studied effects of learning opportunities on the relationship between unmet expectations and turnover via emotional exhaustion in 420 public school teachers. In their cross-sectional study, learning opportunities were defined as the implementation of Kolb et al.’s (2001; as cited in Proost et al., 2012) experiential learning cycle that stresses the components of reflective observation.

Through the use of the learning cycle elements of reflection, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation, it is predicted that the employee has the opportunity to “broaden one’s thinking” and learn how to make sense of “confrontation with unmet expectations and to cope with it through positive reappraisal” (Proost et al., 2012, p. 11). Proost et al. (2012) confirmed their hypothesis that teachers who work in environments where learning opportunities, that is, the application of Kolb’s learning cycle, are high have a higher ability to cope with unmet expectations and showed low levels of emotional exhaustion, which was in alignment with low levels of turnover intentions. It is important to note that the effect of reflective learning opportunities was described as a buffer that helps teachers understand their critical experience and develop coping strategies in the midst of stress before turnover intentions arise.

Just like the medical residents in Engel et al. (2006) study, patients benefited from reflective learning to develop coping skills in a study by Lynggaard, Nielsen, Zwisler, Taylor, and May (2017). A randomized control trial allowed Lynggaard and colleagues (2017) to investigate the effects of LC strategies on retention and completion of an 8-week cardiovascular rehabilitation (CR) program after a total 825 patients with cardiovascular problems had been randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The LC method allows patients to make sense and develop coping strategies through reflective practice and participatory approaches, such as dialogue with patients and health care professionals. Patients are also encouraged to “evaluate the CR program in cooperation with experienced patients” (Lynggaard et al., 2017, p. 66). The study outcomes showed a high rate of adherence in the LC group compared with the control group; 80% of the LC group completed a minimum of 75% of the CR program compared with 73% who did not receive the LC intervention (Lynggaard et al., 2017).

Interestingly, patients with lower levels of education and household income benefited from LC more significantly as a subgroup in the study. These findings demonstrate the positive coping effects of “situational, reflective and inductive teaching with a high involvement of the participants” (Lynggaard et al., 2017, p. 66) on adult learners. The participation component of the LC method implies that adult patients successfully gained a better sense of agency and a better capacity to manage their life situation, which is impacted by cardiovascular problems. Interestingly, participation during learning opportunities is indicative of pro-active behavior, which is a major element of problem-focused coping (Delahaij & Van Dam, 2016; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).

LC Among Higher Education Students

Similar to Delahaij and Van Dam’s (2016) study that showed advantages of metacognitive learning strategies among military recruits who employed problem-focused coping during military training, De la Fuente et al. (2017) studied the effects of metacognitive learning approaches on coping in undergraduate students (mean age 22.5 years) employing a cross-sectional design. Based on a large sample size of 625 students, the researchers performed a structural analysis of the interactions among various LC approaches as well as resilience factors. Students who preferred using deep learning approach (metacognitive learning) also employed problem-focused coping. This positive relationship between metacognitive, reflection-oriented learning practice and problem-focused coping was associated with significantly lower stress levels and higher levels of self-regulation (De la Fuente et al., 2017), which are very crucial factors in an academic learning context in young adulthood.

Although previous research has established a link between resilience and health, it did not investigate the role of coping in resilience. For this reason, the authors highlight the interaction between coping strategies and resilience in which coping is a mediating (explanatory) factor in the relationship between resilience and mental health. In fact, Eng and Pai’s (2015) cross-sectional study with 312 nursing students showed that coping was a mediator of self-reflection and nursing ability. Coping explained why self-reflection had positive effects on nursing competence, which correlated positively with increased practice of self-reflection and problem-focused coping behavior.

The type of coping strategy used by adult learners also predicts stress levels in academic environments. In a correlational cohort study with 157 Korean medical students, An, Chung, Park, Kim, and Kim (2012) determined the role of various coping strategies in students’ stress levels using linear regression analysis. Their model consisting of novelty-seeking (impulsive) and avoidant coping behaviors accounted for 26% in academic stress. Thus, avoidant coping strategy predicted above and beyond higher levels of academic stress in Korean medical students. Significantly low levels of academic stress were reported in students who preferred to use the active cognitive and behavioral coping style, were able to better solve problems, process stress emotionally and cognitively in a constructive manner, and reduce stress levels proactively (An et al., 2012).

A longitudinal study by Alimoglu, Gurpinar, Mamakli, and Aktekin (2011) confirms the desirable effects of problem-focused coping. Alimoglu et al. (2011) followed the development of coping strategies in 152 medical students over the course of 2 years. Results showed that problem-focused learning positively correlated with exam success and learning satisfaction whereas emotion-focused learning correlated negatively with exam success and academic satisfaction. Based on the predicted positive learning effects by problem-focused coping, the authors stress that instructional methods promoting this coping strategy should be developed and implemented.

In light of the presented literature, it is important to not underestimate the significance of academic stress. Previous research has shown that experienced academic stress and responses to stress (novelty-seeking and impulsive behavior) combined with ineffective coping strategies uphold high academic stress levels overtime that decrease interest in pursuing education (Puttonen, Ravaja, & Keltikangas-Järvinen, 2005). A more recent study strengthened the meaning of coping in educational settings in which medical students developed perseverance and motivation to pursue medical training through problem-focused coping that stood in contrast to their counterparts who employed avoidance coping and thus considered terminating their medical training (Rogers, Creed, Searle, & Nicholls, 2016). Finally, a qualitative, albeit dated, study by Coker (2003) explored elements that play a major role in 10 African American female college students’ coping strategies. The emerging themes of maintaining excellent academic performance, compromise, and confrontation—all of which are problem-focused coping strategies—helped them progress toward their academic goals while facing challenges in an academic learning environment.

Evaluation of Research

Many studies that were selected for this literature review reveal adults’ coping and learning strategies using cross-sectional or correlational designs. Only one study by Lynggaard et al. (2017) employed a randomized controlled trial with a robust sample size of 825 participants receiving patient education. All quantitative studies used either single group pretest–posttest measures or correlational approaches. However, only randomized controlled trials and pretest–posttest measures indicate with higher confidence that learning interventions improve coping and vice versa, with randomized controlled trials indicating higher internal validity. The sample sizes were moderately large to represent the population with a mean sample of n = 389 or a median size of 312 participants.

More randomized controlled trials are needed to establish internal validity between reflection and coping integrated into the learning process. If randomized controlled trials are not an option, quasi-experimental designs should include two groups that consist of control and intervention groups with larger sample sizes (n =  ~500). Participants should also be matched into groups according to their characteristics to prevent overrepresentation of a particular characteristic in only one group. The imbalance of participant traits can skew or impact the results.

Another limitation is that the data are based on self-report measures using instruments with set criteria and items. Although the quantitative approach can answer multiple research questions in an economic and less time-consuming method, such methods do not reveal deeper insights about coping and learning experienced by adults in stressful learning-based settings. Studies using qualitative design offer advantages over quantitative design when it comes to advancing, refining, and increasing accuracy of coping and learning theory (Engel et al., 2006).

Therefore, more qualitative studies are needed to strengthen and advance the understanding of the relationship between coping and learning strategies, as well as the role of reflection and dialogue on coping with stress during learning. Mixed-methods approaches using both quantitative and qualitative design are highly recommended because new elements that emerged in qualitative studies can be measured using randomized controlled trials or quasi-experimental design.

Furthermore, not all studies that treat coping as an influential variable on the outcome variable distinguish the types of coping strategies. The authors connect coping with learning to imply that coping was successful through learning and reflection opportunities in educational or learning-based environments, such as Lynggaard et al.’s (2017) study or simply distinguish coping from avoidant behaviors, that is, coping with instead of avoiding unmet expectations (Proost et al., 2012). Future studies should investigate the relationship between reflection and coping into depth to answer the question whether learning leads to problem-focused coping or whether coping through learning and reflection is a different, acquired, coping strategy.

The significance of the relationship between coping and learning implies that coping is a nonfixed and alterable trait. As seen in Nielsen and Knardahl’s (2014) study, coping strategies may improve over time and are not mutually exclusive, but are applied interchangeably by individuals at different points in time, depending on the situation. Given that coping is effective through learning opportunities, educational settings and other learning-based environments, such as training programs in organizations, have the ability to promote coping among adult learners.

Finally, the role of reflection as the mediating factor in the relationship between LC deserves more attention. Not only should research focus on how reflection occurs, that is, cognitively and internal or in interaction with others, but it should also study the benefits of mind–body interaction when practicing reflection (Jordi, 2011), and how this holistic reflective practice influences coping and learning outcomes in the long run. The interaction between mind and body as a holistic reflective practice could be of particular importance in patient-education studies, in which patients learn how to manage their physical as well as mental health through reflective practice and active participation (Lynggaard et al., 2017). Implications for practice are discussed into the depth in the following sections.

Recommendation for Practice

Further research should explore past experiences of those who employ avoidant or emotion-focused approaches to understand and also determine whether the coping strategy is an acquired trait based on past experiences. It would be also helpful to find out whether individuals who use the problem-focused strategy share common experiential and individual characteristics to identify patterns that could potentially aid in developing coping interventions, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy or educational sessions that are part of an academic curriculum for adults enrolled in universities or adults learning in nonformal and informal settings.