Testing a coping scale in Mexican families in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic: Exploring the psychometric properties

Abstract

Introduction. The rapid spread of the pandemic due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, more commonly known as COVID-19, required sanitary measures, such as social distancing and quarantining, which represented non-normative stressors for Mexican families. Objective. Obtaining evidence of the validity and reliability of a family coping scale in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method. A questionnaire was developed containing 48 items, and responses were collected using Google forms with a total of 558 participants. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to obtain the reliability and validity of the scale. Results. The instrument is made up of six factors that explain 67.27% of the variance. The scale had a McDonald’s omega coefficient of .82, and the model had a good fit with most values equal to or higher than .90. Discussion and conclusions. The final items showed proper theoretical congruence and good indicators of fit. These results allow for the assertion that factors 1, 2, 5, and 6 allude to a good family adaptation in the face of the pandemic. Meanwhile, factors 3 and 4 indicate a poor family adaptation. Among the main contributions of this study is that this is one of the first scales to address the subject in Mexico, followed by statistical data that suggests the scale possesses appropriate psychometric properties to be used in the Mexican population.

Family coping strategies and sleep hygiene in the light of COVID-19 pandemic

“…They found that "trying to be on good terms with the family" and "supporting other family members or close people" were the most common coping strategies. In this issue of Salud Mental, Montero-Pardo et al (2022) took a close look at this topic presenting the development of an instrument based on family structure and designed to assess family coping strategies to face the pandemic. In addition to the satisfactory psychometric properties of the scale for the measurement of family coping strategies, this research identifies some of the adaptive strategies families used, such as communication and support from the family system, collaboration and conjugal support, fraternal support, and reorganization of the family.…”

“…Education at all levels became virtual, the use of telemedicine in health services rapidly spread, and the use of social networks had an enormous increase. Research activities were not excluded; for example, both Ramos-Lira et al (2020) and Montero-Pardo et al (2022) developed electronic questionnaires and recruited participants through platforms and social networks. In the early months of the pandemic, screen time in adolescents increased from 3.8 hours to 7.5 hours per day, excluding schoolwork (Nagata et al, 2022).…”