The Appraisal Model of Coping: An Assessment and Intervention Model for Occupational Therapy

This paper presents a new synthesis of the coping literature, the Appraisal Model of Coping. It is based largely on the theoretical concepts of the cognitive relational theory of coping and emotion (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984, 1987) and social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1977). The model provides a conceptual template to guide occupational therapy intervention with respect to assisting patients to cope better with the effects of their disease. It explains the influence of many factors that affect the person’s ability to cope with the disease process as well as the effect of feedback concerning the efficacy of the coping plan on future coping efforts.