Assessment of coping: a new french four-factor structure of the brief COPE inventory

Abstract

BackgroundThe Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (Brief COPE) inventory is the most usual measure to identify the nature of coping strategies implemented by individuals and explore 14 coping strategies. The availability of a structure with fewer factors rather than the initial 14-factor structure may be of interest for both healthcare professionals and researchers. We report the validation process of a 4-factor structure of the French version of the Brief COPE in a French sample of individuals facing a singular life event, such as cancer, including patients and their caregivers.MethodsThe cross-sectional study included cancer patients and their caregivers. Self-administered data were collected including: socio-demographic (age, gender, marital status, employment status, and education level), coping strategies using the French version of the Brief COPE, quality of life (QoL) using the French version of the short form health survey questionnaire (SF36). Construct validity, internal consistency, reliability, and external validity were tested.ResultsThe sample included 398 individuals. The principal component factor analysis identified a 4-factor structure. The dimensions were labeled according to their constitutive items: social support (8 items), problem solving (4), avoidance (10), and positive thinking (6). The 4-factor structure was supported by different theoretical models of coping and showed satisfactory psychometric properties.ConclusionThe 4-factor structure of the French version of the Brief COPE, validated in a sample of individuals facing a singular stressful event, including cancer patients and their caregivers, makes the instrument easier to use both in clinical practice and clinical research.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12955-016-0581-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Evidências de Validade da Versão Reduzida do Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory (COPE) com Trabalhadores Brasileiros

“…Dadas as dificuldades de inserção da COPE completa em baterias com mais instrumentos, devido ao seu tamanho, Carver (1997) desenvolveu uma versão reduzida, a Brief COPE. Essa foi desenvolvida para facilitar a administração, com redução de tempo dispendido (Baumstarck, et al, 2017). Nessa versão houve a exclusão de duas escalas da COPE completa e o acréscimo de uma nova escala, além da supressão de dois itens em cada escala.…”

“…Estudo que propôs uma versão francesa da Brief COPE identificou uma estrutura de quatro fatores: suporte social, solução de problemas, evitação e pensamento positivo, com coeficientes alfa de Cronbach que variaram de 0,64 a 0,82. No entanto, a amostra foi composta por pessoas que estavam enfrentando um momento de crise vital (Baumstarck et al, 2017).…”

Do PostGraduate Doctors Have Special Coping Against Stress?

“…It includes both adaptive and maladaptive strategies of coping. The scale has good validity and internal consistency.Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from 0.71 to 0.82 for three to four dimensions [16] .…”

Coping in Context: Dispositional and Situational Coping of Navy Divers and Submariners

“…Due to each scale having only two items, alpha coefficients of >.50 were regarded as minimally acceptable for further analysis (Carver, 1997;Chamberlin, & Green, 2010;Valvano & Stepleman, 2013). There are inconsistent reports on gender-based coping response selection, describing significant differences between women and men in some studies (Baumstarck, Alessandrini, Hamidou, Auquier, Leroy, & Boyer, 2017;Prati, Palestini, & Pietrantoni, 2009), and little difference in others (Hartley, Violanti, Mnatsakanova, Andrew, & Burchfiel, 2013;Olley et al, 2004). In this study the Brief COPE was used in its dispositional format (Carver, 1997), inquiring about coping choices generally, and without modifications referring to specific work or environmental contexts.…”