The Journal of nervous and mental disease
-
J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. · Nov 2008
Validity and reliability of the brief COPE in carers of people with dementia: the LASER-AD Study.
The Brief COPE is a self-completed questionnaire measuring coping strategies. It comprises 14 subscales for which psychometric properties are described. Three composite subscales measuring emotion-focused, problem-focused, and dysfunctional coping have proved useful in clinical research and have content validity. ⋯ Regression analyses indicated convergent and concurrent validity: emotion-focused coping was predicted by secure attachment (beta = 0.23) and by problem-focused coping (beta = 0.68); dysfunctional coping by burden (beta = 0.36) and less secure attachment (beta = -0.25) and problem-focused coping (beta = 0.31;all p < 0.05). The model predicting problem-focused coping included avoidant attachment (beta = 0.22; p = 0.014), social support (beta = 0.10; p = 0.25), care recipient activities of daily living impairment (beta = 0.12; p = 0.14) and less secure attachment (beta = -0.25; p = 0.011) and emotion-focused (beta = 0.53; p < 0.001) and dysfunctional coping (beta = 0.25, p = 0.006). These subscales are potentially useful in clinical research as they reflect possible components of interventions to change coping, although more information about sensitivity to change of the emotion-focused subscale is needed.