Sometimes life seems to pile up all at once.
We find ourselves trying to juggle a multitude of daily challenges, large and small, or unexpected events that send our anxiety or stress responses into a tailspin.
When this happens, it can be difficult to take a moment to check-in and see how we’re really coping. We might think we’re doing okay and participating in supportive behaviors, but how accurate is that really? And how do we reflect adequately to address where we might be indulging in behaviors that are counterintuitive to help us cope effectively?
As ever, positive psychology might hold the tools and resources that can help us. One type of resource you can tap into are scales for measuring coping.
Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our 3 Resilience Exercises for free. These engaging, science-based exercises will help you to effectively cope with difficult circumstances and give you the tools to improve the resilience of your clients, students or employees.
You can download the free PDF here.
This Article Contains:
- What Do Coping Questionnaires Measure Exactly?
- A Look at the Reliability and Validity
- The COPE Inventory
- The Carver Brief COPE Inventory (+PDF)
- The Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (CSES)
- The Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS)
- The Proactive Coping Inventory (PCI)
- The Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI)
- A Take-Home Message
- References
What Do Coping Questionnaires Measure Exactly?
Coping questionnaires aim to measure your coping strategies and ability to self-regulate in response to different experienced stressors.
Perhaps when we’re trying to understand what coping questionnaires measure, a good place to start is by understanding what we mean by ‘coping.’ Different cognitive psychological theories have attempted to define coping. Lazarus and Folkman (1984) defined it as:
Constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person.
Individual behaviors relating to coping can be challenging to measure, as we respond differently to the same type of stressor, depending on several different factors including our character traits, specific environment, support networks, and individual life experiences.
How we cope as individuals may also change as we develop, and just because we respond to one scenario in one way, doesn’t mean we’ll react to it the same way if it happens again.
Coping questionnaires are helping us to understand our coping strategies at any given moment towards different situations in our lives. Coping strategies can be positive, for example, tapping into your social support network, or negative, such as turning to alcohol or drugs.
A Look at the Reliability and Validity
Most of the research on coping is divided into exploring two key areas: coping styles or coping strategies. While they seem similar, there is a core distinction between the two:
Coping Styles
Coping style refers to your disposition towards handling challenging situations or stressors. Endler and Parker (1990) suggested that there are three basic coping styles: task-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoidance-oriented. Your coping style may stay consistent across different situations and experiences, and the coping strategies you use within this may change and adapt.
Research into coping styles has received a fair amount of criticism. The main criticism is that that in focusing only on coping styles, the variability and complexity of coping efforts overall are not captured effectively, and stifles predictive validity within the research (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984).
The researchers argue that a better evaluation and validity can be developed by focusing on coping strategies within specific contexts, rather than how someone copes with stress generally.
Coping Strategies
Studies that use coping scales or measurements focused on measuring coping strategies for specific situations or stressors have been found to be more valid and reliable (Daniels and Harris, 2005, Lazarus and Folkman, 1984).
Greenaway et al. (2015) conducted a review of 6 different coping measures. They found that overall, these types of measures tended to have higher validity, but some tests had poorer test-retest reliability than others (specifically The Ways of Coping Questionnaire).
One of the main criticisms for the validity and reliability of coping scales and measures for coping strategies is that they ask participants to recall stressful experiences or respond to hypothetical situations that fail to measure ‘in the moment’ coping responses (Porter and Stone, 1996, Steptoe, 1989).
Overall, researchers agree there is some weakness to these measurements; however, they can still be a great tool and resource. Greenaway et al. (2015) summarised that low to moderate inconsistencies with coping measures should not deter their use, but that researchers need to be rigorous in selecting the scales or questionnaires they use with their particular participant groups.
The COPE Inventory
The COPE inventory was created by Carver (1989). It is a multi-dimensional inventory developed to asses the different coping strategies people use in response to stress. COPE stands for Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced.
The inventory is a list of statements that participants review and score. There are two main components to the COPE inventory: problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping.
Five scales aim to measure each of these:
Problem-focused coping
- Active Coping
- Planning
- Suppression of Competing Activities
- Restraint Coping
- Seeking of Instrumental Social Support
Example statements from the inventory include ‘I concentrate my efforts on doing something about it’ and ‘I take additional action to try to get rid of the problem.’
Emotion-focused coping
- Seeking of Emotional Social Support
- Positive Reinterpretation
- Acceptance
- Denial
- Turning to Religion
Example statements from the inventory include ‘I discuss my feelings with someone’ and ‘I seek God’s help.’
It also contains three scales aimed at measuring coping responses:
- Focus on and Venting of Emotions
- Behavioral Disengagement
- Mental Disengagement
Example statements from the inventory include ‘I get upset and let my emotions out’ and ‘I get upset, and am really aware of it.’
How Does Scoring Work?
To score the COPE Inventory, you need to first respond to each of the statements with a score from 1 to 4, as follows:
1 = I usually don’t do this at all
2 = I usually do this a little bit
3 = I usually do this a medium amount
4 = I usually do this a lot
Each statement in the inventory is then connected to a specific coping strategy that sits under either the problem-focused, emotion-focused, or coping response measures. Your scores will inform you which form of coping strategy you are more engaged in.
For example, Active Coping in the inventory is measured with the following four statements:
- I concentrate my efforts on doing something about it.
- I take additional action to try to get rid of the problem.
- I take direct action to get around the problem.
- I do what has to be done, one step at a time.
If you were to give these statements higher scores – such as a 3 or 4 – you would score highly as using Active Coping as one of your coping strategies. If you scored low – with a 1 or 2 – then Active Coping would not be one of your core coping strategies.
This scoring can help you ascertain which measures are your most reliable coping strategies from the different ones utilized in the inventory.
Access a full copy of the COPE Inventory, including scoring.
The Carver Brief COPE Inventory (+PDF)
One of the challenges and criticisms of the COPE Inventory was its length. The Brief COPE Inventory was adapted by Carver (1997) and is an abbreviated version of the full COPE Inventory.
The Brief COPE Inventory consists of only 28 statements, across two scales, and is more focused on understanding the frequency with which people use different coping strategies in response to various stressors. Participants using the inventory, score themselves from 1 to 4 with 1 being ‘I haven’t been doing this at all’ and 4 being ‘I’ve been doing this a lot.’
Statements from the scale include things like:
- I’ve been turning to work or other activities to take my mind off things.
- I’ve been concentrating my efforts on doing something about the situation I’m in.
- I’ve been saying to myself, “this isn’t real.”
Download the full Brief Cope Inventory and scoring instructions.
The Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (CSES)
Similar to the COPE Inventory, the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (CSES) was created to measure an individual’s confidence in their coping strategies when it comes to handling challenges and stressors.
It was authored by Chesney et al. (2006) in partnership with Dr. Albert Bandura from Stanford University and initially developed for use with staff and patients at the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California, San Francisco.
The CSES contains 26 items which are prefaced by the statement ‘When things aren’t going well for you, or when you’re having problems, how confident are you that you can do the following.’
Example statements include things like:
- Make new friends.
- Do something positive for yourself when you are feeling discouraged.
- Make unpleasant thoughts go away.
- Think about one part of the problem at a time.
How Does Scoring Work?
Participants using the scale are asked to give each of the 26 statements a personal score from 0 to 10 as follows:
0 = Cannot do at all
5 = Moderately confident I can do
10 = Certain I can do
A final score is created by summing all of the individual scores. A higher score indicates a high level of self-efficacy when it comes to implementing positive coping strategies. A lower score indicates a lower level of self-efficacy.
If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the scale, please email the author, Dr. Margaret Chesney to request permission at margaret.chesney@ucsf.edu.
The Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS)
The Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS) is an even shorter measure of resilient coping, designed by Sinclair and Walston (2004), to capture an individual’s ability to cope with stress in highly adaptive ways.
When the researchers say brief – they mean brief! The measure contains only four statements, that participants rate from 1 (Does not describe me at all) to 5 (Describes me very well).
After giving each of the four statements a score, participants sum up their responses for a final score. A high score – between 17 and 20 – indicates that you are a highly resilient coper, and a low score – between 4 and 13 – suggests that you are a low resilient coper.
Access the Brief Resilient Coping Scale, including scoring.
The Proactive Coping Inventory (PCI)
The Proactive Coping Inventory (PCI) was developed by Greenglass and Schwarzer (1998). The PCI was created to measure different proactive approaches to coping and contains seven subscales to achieve this:
- Proactive Coping
- Preventive Coping
- Reflective Coping
- Strategic Planning
- Instrumental Support Seeking
- Emotional Support Seeking
- Avoidance Coping
There are 55 statements in total in the inventory, and participants are asked to give each statement a score between 1 (Not at all true) and 4 (Completely true). Example statements include:
- I like challenges and beating the odds.
- I visualize my dreams and try to achieve them.
- Despite numerous setbacks, I usually succeed in getting what I want.
- I try to pinpoint what I need to succeed.
The statements are grouped by the subscale they relate to (so the examples above all relate to the Proactive Coping subscale) and then totals are used to ascertain which subscales of coping you use the most.
Access the full Proactive Coping Inventory, including scoring.
The Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI)
The Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI) was created by Bodenmann (2008) and is slightly different from the other scales mentioned in this article in that it was specifically developed to be used within close relationships, for when one or both partners are experiencing stress.
It contains 37 statements that aim to measure communication and dyadic coping. Dyadic coping relates closely to partners in close relationships and strategies include:
- Supportive
- Delegated
- Negative
- Joint
Dyadic coping also involves:
- One partner’s attempt to reduce the stress of the other partner.
- A joint effort from both partners to deal with stress that may impact their relationship.
The DCI contains six subscales that ask each person to reflect on how they communicate stress to their partner, how their partner responds, how their partner communicates they are stressed, how they react to their partner’s stress, how they behave when both partners are stressed, and how you cope as a couple.
Example statements include:
- When my partner feels he/she has too much to do, I help him/her out.
- When my partner is stressed, I tend to withdraw.
- We help one another to put the problem in perspective and see it in a new light.
Each statement is given a score between 1 (Very rarely) and 4 (Very often). Higher scores reflect higher dyadic coping for each of the subscales.
Access to the full Dyadic Coping Inventory, including scoring instructions.
A Take-Home Message
This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to coping scales and questionnaires! There have been many more developed that aim to provide insights for specific challenges and stressors that may be experienced by individuals, as well as scales that can be used with different groups – including young children and teenagers.
If there’s one thing I’d like you to take away from this article, it’s that our coping strategies and styles can develop and change over time, as we grow, learn and develop through our experiences.
Coping scales are a great way to understand further your ways of coping at one point in time, and should be revisited often so you can develop an on-going relationship with your coping styles and reflect on how you might be able to improve.
Have you used any coping scales or questionnaires yourself? I’d love to hear about your personal experiences in the comments.
We hope you found this article useful. Don’t forget to download our 3 Resilience Exercises for free.
- Bodenmann, G. (2008). Dyadisches Coping Inventar: Testmanual [Dyadic Coping Inventory: Test manual]. Bern, Switzerland: Huber.
- Carver, C. (1989).
- Carver, C. (1997). You want to measure coping but your protocol’s too long: Consider the brief COPE. International Journal of Behavioural Medicine, 4
- Chesney, M. A., Neilands, T. B., Chambers, D. B., Taylor, J. M., Folkman, S. (2006). A validity and reliability study of the coping self-efficacy scale. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1602207/
- Endler, N. S., & Parker, J. D. A. (1990). Multidimensional assessment of coping: A critical evaluation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58.
- Daniels, K., and Harris, C. (2005). A daily diary study of coping in the context of job demands-control-support model. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 66.
- Greenaway, K., Louis, W. R., Parker, S. L., & Kalokerinos, E. (2015). Measures of Coping for Psychological Well-Being. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282566883_Measures_of_Coping_for_Psychological_Well-Being
- Greenglass, E. & Schwarzer, R. (1998). The Proactive Coping Inventory (PCI). In R. Schwarzer (Ed.), Advances in health psychology research (CD-ROM). Berlin: Free University of Berlin.
- Lazarus, R., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.
- Porter, L. & Stone, A. (1996). An approach to assessing daily coping. In Zeidner, M. and Endler, N. (Eds). Handbook of Coping: Theory, Research, and Applications. Oxford, UK.
- Sinclair, V. G., & Wallston, K.A. (2004). The development and psychometric evaluation of the Brief Resilient Coping Scale. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14994958
- Steptoe, A. (1989). An abbreviated version of the Miller Behavioral Style Scale. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 28.
good article, I am doing my Ph.D. on coping strategies of college students in relation to their academic achievement, please suggest me an appropriate scale for my study.
Hi Noyonika,
Perhaps take a look at Sullivan’s (2009) academic coping scale.
Let me know if this helps.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Thank you so much for your response. I have went through the scale and I think it will quite helpful but I am basically looking for a scale which includes emotional approach also. Looking forward for your response.
Hi Noyonika,
No problem. In that case, I might suggest also administering Stanton et al’s (2000) Emotional Processing and Emotional Expression scales.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi, thank you so much for this summary. I’m having trouble locating the Greenaway et al. 2015 paper for some reason. Could you please share the doi?
Also any suggestions on a coping scale that could be used pre and post DBT group skills training?
Thank you!
Hi Ali,
Glad you enjoyed the article. You can find a download for this paper here (DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-386915-9.00012-7).
I’d take a look at the DBT Ways of Coping Checklist (DBT-WCCL) for this. It’s been used for pre- and post- assessment following DBT skills training by Cavicchioli et al. (2019).
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi,
I am a student consultant at university working with a mental health charity to help them capture their social impact better. If I needed to create a questionnaire to measure the participants coping abilities with respect to difficult life experiences and mental health problems, which scale do you think would be the most suitable?
Thanks for such an insightful asticle.
Hi Parakram,
Glad you enjoyed the article!
Sounds like important work you’re doing. I’d take a look at this paper Meyer (2001), which includes a broad review of different coping scales and how they’ve been used to examine coping when dealing with mental health issues. Overall, it gives several arguments for using the Brief COPE inventory for this kind of assessment as it covers a lot of different styles of coping. Similarly, this can be used to assess coping with difficult life experiences. Depending on the nature of what you’re assessing, you might want to present the scale twice and use different lead-ins to the items inviting the respondent to think about difficult life experiences and mental illness separately.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi Dr. Celestine,
Thank you for this article. I am completing a dissertation using the Brief COPE. The title of my dissertation is: COPING SKILLS AND QUALITY OF LIFE OF VIETNAM VETERANS WITH POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
I am having difficulty answering the question from my committee person. He is asking what are the psychometrics of the Brief Cope for reliability and validity. Is there a simple article or listing of this?
Thank you,
Terry Heptinstall
Hi Terry,
For validity information, take a look at the paper validating the full COPE inventory by Carver and colleagues (1989) here. For reliability, see Carver (1997).
You may also find the webpage on Carver’s website about the scale useful.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Requested sir
I am postgratuate nursing student . As a part of our curriculum I have to conduct the research in my study . i.e ” A study to assess the effectiveness of STP on stress and coping skills adopted among elderly people living in old age home shimla Himachal Pradesh 2020-2022.” I requested to you to kindly allow me to use your tool ( Brief COPE inventory ) in my above mentioned study. and give me permission to convert the tools english to hindi.
Thank You
With Regards
Hi Priyanka,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. You do not need permission from the author to use it for research purposes (including translation).
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Good Day!
I hope this message finds you well.
I am Nessa Catostos, a masteral candidate of Nursing and I will be conducting my research and I would love to utilize the Brief COPE Scale. I am asking permission to utilize the Brief COPE Scale for my research. Thank you so much. Hoping for a favorable response.
Hi Nessa,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. You do not need permission from the author to use it for research purposes.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Greetings!
I’m pursuing my Masters degree in Nursing and presently working on a research aiming to explore the coping practices of mothers with babies admitted in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. My respondents (mothers) are still admitted in the hospital. I find this article helpful and very informative. I was wondering which coping instrument you think would be the most appropriate to use. Thank you in advance.
Regards,
Pearl
Hi Pearl,
It looks as though the Brief COPE inventory has been used for research in this area (see Shaw et al., 2013), so perhaps this would be a good scale for your research.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello! I am Anne Salting from Far Eastern University Manila. I am currently conducting a study with the title “Coping Mechanisms of ABM and Non-ABM students amidst the lack of bridging subjects” which aims to determine the level of coping mechanism of the Accountancy students in taking their major accounting subjects. May I know which instrument is applicable to my study? Thank you so much for your time
Hi Anne,
I’m assuming you’re interested in academic coping? If so, perhaps take a look at Sullivan’s (2009) scale.
Let me know if this helps.
– Nicole | Community Manager
I hope so you are doing good. I am ayesha yousaf, student of psychology from lahore, Pakistan. I’m doing research for my Bs program on premenstrual syndrome and its relation with an individual coping Style and wellbeing . My research would be impossible without using your scale of Coping Style/Behavior . Kindly grant me permission to use them in my research as it would be very helpful. I shall be very grateful to you. Thank you!
Hi Ayesha,
Most of these are publicly available to use for research purposes, meaning you shouldn’t need permission from the author to use them. However, if this is a requirement of your course, let me know which specific scale you were interested in using and I can point you toward the person to contact 🙂
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello,
I am nimra un nisa.I am doing MS from Riphah international University Islamabad pakistan.I am doing research for the fulfillment of my degree course.My topic is Roles of Trait Emotional Intelligence in Coping with the Stress associated with Low Self-esteem and Obsessive Compulsive (OC) Traits among Adolescents Achieving Puberty.May i know the instruments i can use for my course. I will be thank full
Hi Nimra,
Sounds like interesting research! The COPE inventory has been used in OC research before (see Geffken et al., 2006), so that may be a suitable option for measuring coping. As for the other constructs, here are some references that may point you toward suitable scales:
– Emotional Intelligence: See our blog post with different scale options.
– Adolescent Self-esteem: Harter’s Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Good day ma’am!
I’m Jantee Amat, nursing student from Batangas State University in the Philippines. I’am currently working on my undergraduate research paper entitled “Coping Behavior of COVID-19 Survivors against Discrimination.” May I ask for your help which coping behavior/strategy questionnaire should we use to identify the coving Behaviors of COVID-19 Survivors against discrimination? Thank you very much! Hoping for your reply.
Hi Jantee,
I’d suggest checking for the scale in Liu et al. (2020).
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi, Good day!
My name is Maha, I am a nursing master student. My research title is incivility behavior and coping strategies as pereived by bachelor nursing students. Which tool should I use to measure coping strategies here?
Thank you for this great article. I hope you help me.
Hi Maha,
Glad you enjoyed the article! I’d suggest looking at Hong et al., (2016), for a study cutting across a few of your variables, and to see whether the scale they recommend is appropriate for your design.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Greetings,
My name is Rose and I am currently in the process of preparing my research methodology for a study on ‘The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence, Academic stress and Coping Strategies among college students.
Which tools would you recommend I use especially for Emotional Intelligence and Coping Strategies.
Looking forward to a response at your earliest convinience.
Thank you.
Regards
Rose
Hi Rose,
Are you interested in academic coping or well-being-related coping?
If academic coping, take a look at Sullivan (2009). If well-being, see the Coping Resources Inventory Youth Form. For different measures of emotional intelligence you can choose from, check out our dedicated blog post.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi there,
I am conducting undergraduate research on the effect of locus of control on anxiety and coping in a university population and was wondering which coping measure you think would be the most appropriate for me to use?
Kind Regards,
Holly
Hi Holly,
I’d suggest using Bandura’s academic self-efficacy scale as it’s broadly applicable to students across different disciplines (and also highly cited).
I hope this helps.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi,
i am student of MPhil want to do research on coping strategies, social support and quality of life among divorced and widow females. which coping scale will suit to my topic?
Hi Bisma,
Past research looking at similar variables (Gass-Sternas, 1995) has used the Ways of Coping Revised scale, which might suit your study. You can access it here.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi thanks very much. am doing a research on catholic clergy stress, coping and help-seeking behaviour. Please which scales would you recommend for the 3 constructs i.e. stress, coping and help-seeking?
Hi Dela,
Sounds like interesting research you’re doing! Here are some scales to assess each of those constructs (and citations to where they’ve been used in previous research):
– Stress: Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983), used in similar research by Blouin & Proeschold-Bell (2015).
– Coping: The COPE Inventory, used in similar research by Doolittle (2007)
– Help-seeking: A bit trickier, but take a look at Pietkiewicz & Bachryj (2016) to see what measures they used.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi! Thank you very much on this article. I am currently doing a research about “Mental Health and Coping Mechanisms of Frontline Nurses Amidst The Pandemic” which scale would you recommend for the coping mechanism for frontline nurses?
Hi Maristela,
Assuming you’re interested in coping as it relates to nursing in general (not coping with fears or the specific demands of COVID in particular — e.g., fear of catching it), the Brief COPE inventory is widely used with samples of nurses so this might be your safest bet (e.g., see Shimizutani et al., 2008).
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
thank you for this incredible article
Greetings!
I am Maricar Cuenca, MA student and currently doing my research on “Self-Paced Learning: Coping Mechanism of High School Learners”. I am looking for a survey questionnaire with regard to my study and would like to ask assistance from you.
I would greatly appreciate hearing your thoughts and suggestions. Thank you very much and God bless.
Hi Maricar,
I would consider the Coping Responses Inventory Youth Form (CRI-YF) which has been used in research with high-school students before (see Steiner et al, 2002). If you do a search, you should also be able to find an abbreviated version of this scale.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello dear Celestine,
My name is Sepehr from Iran, graduate student in psychology,
As I found here, you are kindly guided everyone for finding the best inventory for their thesis, I want you to help me for an inventory for coping with stress among nurses, I live in Iran, and four popular questioners are: Lazarus & Folkman (66items), Parker(48 items), Billings & Moos(32items), Carver(40items). Could you please let me know, which one is more reliable for my future article publishing in a reputable journal and with rational number?
Thank you
Hi Sepehr,
It’s challenging to say definitively which scale will help to ensure your acceptance in a top journal. Different journals take different theoretical stances on conceptual issues in the literature, so the most important thing is to select a scale that matches your conceptualization of coping. E.g., Endler and Parker (1990) conceptualize it using a four-factor model. In contrast, Lazarus and Folkman distinguish eight different forms of coping in their Ways of Coping Questionnaire.
Therefore, I’d suggest settling on a conceptualization (hopefully one that makes sense in your research context) and using that to help you pick a scale. Another good tip is to review which scales other scholars have used to measure your concept of interest in your target journal.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Dear Author,
Nice to e-meet you, my name is Marinell from the Philippines and currently a fourth year college student taking up Bachelor of Science in Psychology. My partner and I are writing our dissertation about Coping of single parents with school-aged children during Covid-19 pandemic. May I know the best research instrument for my topic?
Hi Marinell,
Sounds like an interesting project. The Brief COPE has been used to capture parents’ coping during COVID and may be a useful well-rounded scale for the job (see Guimond et al. 2021 for an example).
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello Ma’am,
I am Isha Bhusal, student of Master of Nursing (MN) of Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS), Nepal. As per our curriculum, for the partial fulfillment of our Master’s degree course, We have to do research and my research topic is “Perceived burden and coping strategies among parents of autism spectrum disorder children attending in tertiary hospital, Kathmandu”.
While going through the literature, I got to know about this Brief COPE Inventory. In line with this, I would like to seek your permission to use the Brief COPE Scale.
I would greatly appreciate your consent to my request. I look forward to hearing from you at your convenience, regarding providing permission to use and translate the instrument in Nepali language for my thesis.
I assure you that the purpose of my study is fully academic.
Details of my University is:
Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS)
School of Nursing and Midwifery (Lalitpur Nursing Campus)
Lalitpur, Nepal
https://www.pahs.edu.np/
Hi Isha,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. You’ll find the scoring information at the bottom, and you should be fine to go ahead and modify it for your needs (including translating it).
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello Nicole, You have mentioned the scoring criteria of BRCS scale. I am looking for Brief COPE inventory scale. Thank you
Hi Isha,
Ah, apologies for the mistake! Here’s the scale you’re looking for: https://novopsych.com.au/assessments/formulation/brief-cope/
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello didi Namaste I am bsc nursing student of chitwan medical college, chitwan . I am 4th year student and I am doing my research on the topic stress and coping strategies among infertile women attending selected infertility centres in chitwan. I found your comment while I am searching for the coping tools. I am the begginers researcher. So can you please inform me which coping tool you have use in your study tool where I can also be helpful because I don’t find any suitable tool for my study and I m frusted. Can you please help me. Hoping for your positive response . Thankyou
Hello mam i am MSc Nursing student from shimla HP. My research study is on to assess psychosocial impact and coping strategies among adults during covid 19 pandemic in Shimla HP plz send reference of seeking permission to use brief cope tool
Hi Shailja,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
thank u so much mam
Where can I get the reliability and validity pf cope inventory?
Hi Deepa,
This information can be found in Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub (1989). There’s been more research that has come out since this time disputing the factor structure of this scale (see Donoghue, 2004). So depending on what you’re doing, this may be something to be aware of.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Good Day!
I am Angie Mae Saymo, we are working on our research entitled “The Level of Stress and Coping Strategies of Nursing Students in Pamantasan ng Cabuyao”.
I would like to seek your permission to use the research tool particularly the COPE Inventory to fit into the purpose of our study. The tool would be of great help for us in identifying the factors of stress being employed with our research respondents.
I would greatly appreciate your consent to my request. And I look forward to hearing from you at your convenience, regarding providing permission to use the instrument for our thesis. Any suggestions and information will be appreciated.
Thank you very much.
Yours truly,
Alein M. Bagunu
Kyla A. Fontanilla
Kyla Nicole Manzo
Andrea Nicole B. Perez
Angie Mae D. Saymo
Hi Angie,
I suspect the creator of this scale (Charles Carver) likely receives many emails, and so you may not be able to get written permission from him. However, this scale is freely available to use for research without requesting permission from the author. You can access it here.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi, my research is on the coping strategies of caregivers of mentally ill patients. Can you suggest to me which scale is most appropriate for this study?
Hi Deepa,
Take a look at the Ways of Coping Questionnaire, which has been used to assess the coping strategies of carers in past research (see Papastavrou et al., 2011)
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi! I, too have a similar research but the topic involves knowing the coping strategies of students during the online distance learning, however I don’t really understand the alpha mentioned in the scales. How does it work and what does the alpha serve in those studies? Your response would very much be appreciated! Thank you.
Hi Althea,
I’d suggest taking a look at Endler and Parker’s (1990) Coping Inventory for Stressful Situtions, which has been used in research on this topic (see Heiman, 2008).
Also see here to learn more about Cronbach’s Alpha. It’s basically a statistical test of whether all the items that form a scale are internally consistent and thus reliable for use to measure your chosen construct. A score of .70 or above is generally considered sufficient on this index.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello! I still don’t get the process of getting the result in COPE INVENTORY, I already did what you said ( I add up the items in each subscale and divide it into 4 and then I will get a score between 1 to 5) what does 1-5 score even mean? Is that the final result?? Thank you
Hi Jay,
Yes, so, you add up the values given for each of the items in a subscale and divide by the total number of items within that subscale to get the client’s score for that subscale.
As for scoring and interpretation, I’m not sure that this exists for the COPE Inventory. It tends to be more common for scales that are applied in clinical settings (e.g., the Beck Depression Inventory), but these cut-offs (e.g., for high, medium, and low levels of a variable) do not always exist outside of clinical settings. I’d say your best bet would be to reach out to the first author of the scale, Charles Carver, and see if they have any information on this.
Hope this helps a little!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Greetings!
I am a Grade 12 student from the University of the Philippines. I am working on my thesis paper on the relationship between the coping mechanism and the academic performance of the junior high school students in cebu city during the the pandemic. I am currently looking for the best scale to use in my thesis paper. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts and suggestion. Thank you!
Hi Rex,
Sounds like an interesting project! For assessing academic coping, perhaps take a look at Sullivan’s (2010) scale and see how well it applies in the context of the pandemic? Otherwise, if you let me know the specific facets of the pandemic that may affect academic performance for your sample of students (e.g., are they having to study from home, possible economic strain in the family, etc.), I might be able to recommend something more tailored.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello Mam ☺️ Do you know any sites that provide the reliability and validity of cope inventory scale?
Hi Rhum,
I’m not aware of a website discussing this, but the information can be found in Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub (1989). There’s been more research that has come out since this time disputing the factor structure of this scale (see Donoghue, 2004). So depending on what you’re doing, this may be something to be aware of.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi ma’am, thank you for your article which really helped me in compiling my thesis.
introduce me rahmi, now i’m doing research on coping and resilience in working mothers, do you have any suggestions on the scale i should use for both coping and resilience? because I’m still confused about which scale to use
Hi Rahmi,
Sounds like interesting work you’re doing! Past research on this topic has used Carver’s COPE Inventory (see Lettie et al. 2007). As for resilience, assuming you’re not looking for something specifically assessing work-life balance, I’d suggest taking a look at our dedicated blog post exploring resilience scales and choosing the scale with items that apply best to your context.
Let me know if this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello! How to know the scores in COPE Inventory (not the brief cope inventory) I tried to add up all the scores but it exceeded to 100.
Hi Jaz,
For easier interpretation, you may want to sum the scores from the items from each subscale (e.g., items 1, 29, 28, and 59 for positive reinterpretation and growth) and then divide by the total numbers of items (4). That way, you’ll have a score between 1 and 5 for each subscale. As noted at the end of the manual on this tool, there doesn’t appear to be a way to determine one or more higher-order coping factors. Rather, you should interpret the individual subscales.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello, my name is Neil Mercado. I am a 3rd-year physical therapy student and I am currently looking for the best tool to assess academic burnout and behavior of coping in academic performance among students in my community. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts and suggestion. Thank you!
Hi Neil,
For academic burnout, I’d suggest using the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory Student Version (see Campos et al. 2012). For academic coping, perhaps try Sullivan’s 2010 scale.
I hope this helps.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello ma’am, I am a bachelor nursing student who is doing research on Perceived stress and coping strategies among bachelor nursing students during Covid-19, and would really appreciate if you would suggest me a scale for coping strategies used by nursing students. Thank you .
Waiting for your response
Hi Rakshya,
Assuming you’re interested in coping as it relates to nursing in general (not coping with fears or the specific demands of COVID in particular — e.g., fear of catching it), the Brief COPE inventory is widely used with samples of nurses so this might be your safest bet (e.g., see Shimizutani et al., 2008).
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello Maam…
I’m making a Research and I just sent an email…..
I was Hoping that You can Suggest Me Some Questionnares Also About Embracing The New Normal: Coping Strategies Of The Grade 12 Students In a Remote/rural School.
Hi Majorie,
I might need some more information to suggest an appropriate scale. Are you specifically interested in the coping strategies these students are using to succeed in their academic studies? Or is it something to do with COVID, or the challenges of studying rurally?
Let me know!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi Elaine,
Thank you for this very helpful article. I am currently doing my thesis about Coping and Academic Self-Efficacy, but have not found the right measuring tool for this research. Could you may help or give input for this. Thank you in advance.
Best Regards,
Ira
Hi Ira,
I’d suggest using Bandura’s academic self-efficacy scale as it’s very highly cited!
I hope this helps.
– Nicole | Community Manager
HELLO MAM
I would be grateful to know if u could suggest a scale for coping strategies used by parents who are experiencing empty nest syndrome..am doing masters in clinical psychology..kindly assist..thank u and have a good day..pls reply to my e mail address gvn below
Hi Bindu,
I’d suggest taking a look at Su et al. (2018) for research in this space and to see what scale they used!
– Nicole | Community Manager
I tried to email the author of Cope Inventory but the email is always been blocked. Do you why and do have any idea on how to reach out to him? Thank you and Gobless
Hi Shamaine,
I assume you mean Charles Carver? I suspect the creator of this scale likely receives many emails and if you’re unable to get through via email, you may be stuck. However, this scale is freely available to use for research without requesting permission from the author. You can access it here.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Good day!
I am Donna Karen Chan a psychology student from University of Muntinlupa in the Philippines writing my research paper titled “Job Loss amidst Covid-19 Pandemic: The Relationship between Complicated Grief, Psychological Distress and Coping Self-Efficacy among Amusement Arcades Staff”.
I would like to ask if there’s anyone have a copy of manual for scoring and interpretation of the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale. This would be a great help for me to finish my research study as well as to fulfill my requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Thank you so much and have a great day ahead!
Hi Donna,
You’ll find links to download the CSES and scoring info here on the MIDSS website.
Hope this helps and good luck with your research!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi, Good day!
I am Jaquelyn. I would like to ask how can I contact the author? Mr. Charles Carver to be exact. Can you give me his email address? I want to ask for his permission because I’m planning to use the scale adapted by him which is the brief cope inventory. I think it is suitable for my research. Your help will be highly appreciated. Thank you:)))
Hi Jaquelyn,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. However, if this is a requirement of your course, you can reach out to the scale’s creator, Charles Carver, here (click the icon beside his name).
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi
I am madeeha mustafa , student of m.phil in clinical psychology.
Have you got email address of carver????
i aslo need this email for taking permission for scale.
I shall be very thankfull to u if u concern with me
Thanks
Hi, I am currently pursuing my Master’s degree in Industrial Psychology in India. I am looking for a coping scale (developed in the 2000s) that can be used in organizations. It would be great if you could post the links for some of them.
Thanks in advance!
Hi Vishwa,
Could you please provide a little more information? E.g., who is the target to be assessed (employees, managers, etc.), and what are they coping with (e.g., change, workload)?
Let me know and I should be able to point you in the right direction 🙂
– Nicole | Community Manager
My sample is private sector employees in India, coping with stress in general. I am looking for a scale that assess coping with both work stress and personal/family life stress.
Thanks and Regards,
Vishwa
Hi Vishwa,
I’d suggest taking a look at Clark et al. (2015) for a validated coping scale assessing coping across both the work and home dimensions (see Table 1).
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi, I found the scale given by Clark et al (2015) but I couldn’t understand the scoring. Can you help me with that? Is there a manual that you can share?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Vishwa,
It can be tricky to get this information about scoring interpretation sometimes. It tends to be more common for scales that are applied in clinical settings (e.g., the Beck Depression Inventory), but these cut-offs (e.g., for high, medium, and low levels of a variable) do not always exist outside of clinical settings. I’d say your best bet would be to reach out to the first author of the scale and see if they have any information on this.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Thank you! Please let me know if you have any other scales of coping (developed in the 2000s) that i could use
Hi Vishwa,
You might find this database helpful if you’re in need of more options. You can search ‘coping’ and just change the date range to only return scales from 2000 onward.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Thank you so much! So I found a scale that gives a global score of coping – https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280840331_Coping_Scale
Coping Scale
Hamby, Grych, & Banyard, 2013
However, can coping be high or low? should i use the scale for my study? I cant find any review of literature that talks about high or low coping
Hi Vishwa,
It can be tricky to get this information about scoring interpretation sometimes. It tends to be more common for scales that are applied in clinical settings (e.g., the Beck Depression Inventory), but these cut-offs (e.g., for high, medium, and low levels of a variable) do not always exist outside of clinical settings. I’d say your best bet would be to reach out to the first author of the scale and see if they have any information on this.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi! I am currently conducting a research about coping of the unemployed. I’m going to ask permission to the author of The COPE inventory created by Carver (1989) but I can’t find any contact and email about him. Can I ask where to find his information/email? Is it free to use?
Hi Dane,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. However, if this is a requirement of your course, you can reach out to the scale’s creator, Charles Carver, here (click the icon beside his name).
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi!
I am Ms. Shilpa Sharma, currently taking my Master’s Degree from Holy Family College of Nursing, New Delhi, India. I am working on my research on “STUDY TO ASSESS THE LEVEL OF STRESS AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG INTROVERT AND EXTROVERT NURSING STUDENTS IN SELECTED COLLEGES OF NURSING, NEW DELHI”.
In line with this, I would like to seek for your permission to use the research tool particularly the Brief COPE Scale. I would also ask for a permission to modify some parts of the questionnaire to fit into the purpose of my study. The tool would be of great help to me in identifying the type of coping strategies being employed by my research respondents in dealing with the stresses in the new paradigm of learning.
I would greatly appreciate your consent to my request. I look forward to hearing from you at your convenience, regarding providing permission to use and modify the instrument for my thesis. Any suggestions and information will be appreciated. Thank you so much!
Hi Shilpa,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. You’ll find the scoring information at the bottom, and you should be fine to go ahead and modify it for your needs.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi!
I am Ms. Tanya Chadha , currently taking my Master’s Degree in the Holy Family College of Nursing New Delhi India . I am working on my research on “A Descriptive Study to assess the level of stress and anxiety related to schooling during COVID-19 pandemic and coping strategies among parents of school going children in selected Schools of Delhi”
In line with this, I would like to seek for your permission to use the research tool particularly the Brief COPE Scale. I would also ask for a permission to modify some parts of the questionnaire to fit into the purpose of my study. The tool would be of great help to me in identifying the type of coping strategies being employed by my research respondents in dealing with the stresses in the parents of school going children .
I would greatly appreciate your consent to my request. I look forward to hearing from you at your convenience, regarding providing permission to use and modify the instrument for my thesis. Any suggestions and information will be appreciated. this is urgent for me .Thank you so much!
Reply
Hi Tanya,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. You’ll find the scoring information at the bottom, and you should be fine to go ahead and modify it for your needs.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Dear Madam:
I am Leera J. Millondaga, a nursing student from St. Anthony’s College writing my dissertation titled “Perceived Stress and Coping Strategies among Nursing students of St. Anthony’s College during Covid-19 Pandemic”.
I would like to ask your permission to use the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory (Brief-COPE) survey/questionnaire instrument in my research study. I would like to use your survey under the following conditions:
· I will use the surveys only for my research study and will not sell or use it with any compensated or curriculum development activities.
Sincerely,
Leera J. Millondaga
Hi Leera,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
good morning mam, i am priyadharshini. msc nursing student i am doing research project my study name is
‘a study to assess the stress and coping among undergoing hemodialysis patients’ i want hemodialysis stress scale mam… this scale is free or i get permission from anyone .i want this scale you have please send me.
Hi Priya,
I’m afraid I can’t seem to find a copy of this scale online. My suggestion would be to reach out to some researchers who have used or created the scale to see if you can get a copy. Perhaps Murphy et al. (1985) or other scholars citing them?
Sorry I can’t be of more help here.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi!
I am Ms. Corpuz, currently taking my Master’s Degree in the Philippines. I am working on my research on “Academic Stress and Coping Strategies of Learning Mathematics through Modular Instruction”.
In line with this, I would like to seek for your permission to use the research tool particularly the Brief COPE Scale. I would also ask for a permission to modify some parts of the questionnaire to fit into the purpose of my study. The tool would be of great help to me in identifying the type of coping strategies being employed by my research respondents in dealing with the stresses in the new paradigm of learning.
I would greatly appreciate your consent to my request. I look forward to hearing from you at your convenience, regarding providing permission to use and modify the instrument for my thesis. Any suggestions and information will be appreciated. Thank you so much!
Hi Ms. Corpuz,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. You’ll find the scoring information at the bottom, and you should be fine to go ahead and modify it for your needs.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi, I’m a final year Psychology and Counselling undergraduate student from Sri Lanka. I’m doing my final thesis under the topic of ‘The difference between coping styles among male and female university students after facing a romantic relationship breakup’. So when searching for a coping scale, this article was very useful to me : ). I decided to go with the Brief COPE Inventory.
But is there any way that I can get the manual of it? I mailed to the author, but it got blocked : ( , and also the norms and cut off marks since the author do not spoke anything about it?
Hi Tashini,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. You’ll find the scoring information at the bottom (I’m not aware of a longer ‘manual’ for this tool).
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi,
I, Manisha Hajra, am a M. Sc Nursing student in Burdwan Medical College, India.
I wish to use Brief Cope Inventory in my research topic on Assessment of Psychological Problem and coping strategies of Perimenopausal woman. I am seeking your permission to use Brief Cope Inventory in my research. This is very urgent to me.
Hi Manisha,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. However, if this is a requirement of your course, you can reach out to the scale’s creator, Charles Carver, here.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello!
Thank you for the great article. I’m a paramedicine student and currently creating a project that aims to equip graduate paramedics with the skills needed to be pro-active in caring for their mental health by recognizing unhealthy coping mechanisms they currently use, and learning to employ healthier coping mechanisms instead.
Are there certain coping mechanisms that are better suited for dealing with traumatic experiences?
Thank you for your help. Any insight is greatly appreciated!
Hi Emily,
So glad you enjoyed the article — thank you! And it sounds like an interesting project you’re working on.
To answer your question: Yes! In research, we tend to make a broad, overarching distinction between adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies. You’ll find a good summary of these different strategies in our visual of the Coping Wheel. These strategies were drawn from the cited study by Machado et al. (2020), who talks about them specifically in the context of PTSD, so I expect visiting this original source may be useful and give you some additional ideas 🙂
I hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Good morning madam.I am priyadharshini doing M.sc nursing in India. I am doing a research topic on effectiveness of cognitive restructuring and relaxation techniques on negative thoughts among schizophrenia patients.so I found one scale that is automatic thoughts questionnaire which is discovered by Beck’s.kindly give your reply whether it is free or paid tool…..
Hi Priyadharshini,
I believe Beck’s ATQ scale is freely available. You’ll find the items and scoring here.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello,
I am attempting to do research and program implementation working with women leaving the sex industry and what coping skills they used during and after they have left the sex industry. What questionnaire appears to best fit this population? Any suggestions?
Thank you for your help.
-Jaqueline
Hi Jacqueline,
Sounds like an interesting study 🙂 A lot of the work in this space appears to be qualitative, which means I’m not seeing lots of coping scales being used in the literature. However, one exception is Dalla et al. (2003) – A paid instrument available through Mind Garden that assesses five types of coping strategies.
You may also want to take a look at this article by Sanders (2007) for a typology of processes by which people leave the sex work industry.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
hi mam
i am doing my m.phill thesis and i want positive and negativity coping skills. but i am confused which scale suits in this criteria. kindly if you have possitoive and negitive coping scale . thanks
Hi Ambreen,
For a widely used reliable and valid scale, taking a look at the Ways of Coping Questionnaire here. The different subscales assess a combination of positive and negative coping strategies, ranging from self-blame to seeking social support.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
I am BAVANISHA M.Sc. nursing student in INDIA . I am doing a research topic on A Study to assess the stress and coping strategies among spouse of myocardial infarction. shall I use brief resilient coping scale or else jaloweic coping scale .do I need permission to use that scales.
Hi Bavanisha,
No, the scale is freely available and can be accessed here. You do not need written permission from the creators to use it.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Thank you for your valuable reply mam. If I use Jaloweic coping scale for my study means shall I get permission to use it because I have sent mail to the particular author they are not replying yet . I don’t know exactly whether it is free or paid tool.
Hi Bavanisha,
I’ve done a search, and while I’m not sure whether the instrument is free or paid (I suspect it is free), it appears you need to request it from the author to use it either way. So if they’re not responding I’m not sure how else I can help I’m afraid! If you let me know a bit more about your study, perhaps I can recommend an alternative?
– Nicole | Community Manager
Thank you for your early response madam. Jaloweic coping scale is very appropriate for my study.do I need permission to use that scales?
yes, mam. My statement of the problem is “a study to assess the stress and coping strategies among spouses of myocardial infarction survivors in a selected hospital with a view to prepare an instructional module. In order to assess the coping strategies previous studies also they have also used the jaloweic coping scale (8-factor model)that’s what I have asked you, mam. Thank you, madam.
Hi Bavanisha,
Thank you for the additional info. In that case, if you can’t get the scale/permission re: the Jaloweic instrument, maybe take a look at the Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales (F-COPES), which has been used in research on this topic by Son et al. (2013).
– Nicole | Community Manager
Thank you mam for the valuable information. May I know is the tool is freely available ?(F-COPES)
Hi Bavanisha,
You’re very welcome. And yes! The scale is freely available to be used.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi Bavanisha,
I’m unsure. But I also cannot find the full instrument anywhere online (have you managed to find a copy). When scales aren’t publicly available, it’s usually best to check with the author before using it. Therefore, I hope you receive a response!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Dear ma’am,
I am currently doing my thesis and I need a scale which measures how people cope with information that they get from seeing someone who’s suffering. In detail, participants are not suffering or achieving any support. They give social support instead. Please kindly share with me some recommendations.
Thank you!
Warm regards,
Annis
Hi Annis,
Thank you for your question. To clarify, are you interested in how others’ suffering has the potential to negatively affect the states of someone providing social support (i.e., emotional contagion)? Let me know 🙂
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi Elaine Mead,
I would like to ask what would you recommend as the best tool that I can use for my research in terms of Coping Strategies for COVID-19 patients in Isolation Facilities? I am planning to use the COPE Inventory but I am not too sure myself. If ever I go with COPE Inventory, where do I need to ask permission to? And would I be able to get a copy of the tool with the scoring method and interpretation too? Your response would be a great help for me. Thank you.
Hi Ellaine,
It’s tricky because research on these topics is still in the process of being reviewed and published by journals and is not yet widely available to the public. Therefore, I can’t find an obvious choice of measurement scale that’s been used in the context of COVID. However, if you’re looking for research that specifically addresses coping with social isolation, one idea that comes to mind may be to look at studies on coping in solitary confinement and see whether the measures used in that context are appropriate.
However, if you decide to go with the COPE inventory, you can access it and scoring information here.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Do i need to ask permission from the author of COPE Inventory before using it? Thanks
Hi Ellaine,
No, the scale is freely available and can be accessed here. You do not need written permission from the creators to use it.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi Elaine Mead ,
I am a Junior Nursing student at Northern Caribbean University. I am doing a research on the topic “Does social media utility influence coping amongst adult”. I am seeking your permission to use the Brief Resilient Coping Scale in my research.
Thank you.
Hi Subrina,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. However, if this is a requirement of your course, you can reach out to the scale’s creator, Charles Carver, here.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi Nicole. I am Ellaine a Covid Nurse and I would like to ask what would be the best tool that I can use for my study on Coping Strategies of Covid-19 patients. I was planning to use COPE Inventory, if so do I still need to ask permission from the creator or the author before I can use it? Or do you have any other suggestions that would better suit my study?
Hi Ellaine,
The COPE Inventory is a good versatile scale. As long as you are interested in ‘general’ coping (e.g., not coping specifically as it related to health-related behaviors, etc.), this scale should work well for you. The scale is freely available and can be accessed here. You do not need written permission from the creators to use it.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Good day!
I am a Junior Nursing student at Northern Caribbean university. I am doing a research on how Social media utility influence coping amongst adult Jamaicans. I would like to ask permission to use the Brief Resilient Coping scale in my research. This is required by my institution, I look forward to a positive response regards this matter.
Thank you.
Hi Subrina,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. However, if this is a requirement of your course, you can reach out to the scale’s creator, Charles Carver, here.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hii I’m angel, coping style questionnaire for social situation(csqss) want manual of this questionnaire for reasearch. kindly help me out
Hi Angel,
You’ll find all the info you need about the CSQSS here.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Actually that pdf isn’t having any scoring if uh have another one so kindly help.
Hi Angel,
Ah, you’re right. My apologies! So, the original article (here) indicates in the appendix which items belong to which subscales (i.e., blunting vs. monitoring). Then to score each subscale, you simply sum the totals for each one (according to Broderick, 2010).
Does this answer your question? 🙂
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello..I am Nieva Bermudo, an EdD student and i am doing research (dissertation) about coping mechanism among ALS ) learners in DepEd of Cotabato Province and I want to ask for a scoring key for a better description of the result .
Hi Nieva,
Could you please clarify which specific scale you’re interested in? That way I can see if scoring information is available for you.
Thanks!
– Nicole | Community Manager
hello i am janet n kamau a student and i am doing research on stress coping mechanism among nurses working in CCU and i wanted to ask if i can get permission letter from Carver to use Brief COPE inventory
Hi Janet,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. However, if this is a requirement of your course, you can reach out to the scale’s creator, Charles Carver, here.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi Good Day!
We are currently doing our research study entitled “Parental Separation: Coping Mechanism of students in University of Cebu Psychology Department”. In regards with it, we would like to ask permission if we can use the Proactive Coping Intervention as our research instrument for our research study.
Hoping for a positive response, thank you and God bless 🙂
Hi Donna,
The Proactive Coping Intervention is freely available to use without permission from the creators and can be accessed here.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi
Ashish Mukherjee here I am a research scholar from India doing research on how psychological variables influence tennis performance.
My question is can it be used for tennis players and from where can I get the permission from.
Hi Ashish,
Sounds like an interesting project! There’s no reason why you couldn’t use these scales to assess coping among tennis players, assuming you had hypotheses/theory explaining the proposed links between coping and tennis performance. If you let me know which specific scale you’re searching for, I can let you know whether you need permission from the authors to use it (but typically you don’t).
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi. can I use the Brief COPE in sports and fitness?
Hi Marc,
There’s no reason why not! But the scale’s items are quite specific and not really tailored to a sporting context, which, depending on your research question(s), makes me think you might want to consider other/additional options for measures. For a useful review, take a look at the discussion in Sarkar and Fletcher (2013).
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello, I was not sure how to make a separate thread so I am replying on here.
I am using the COPE inventory for study and I was wondering where I can find information on how to score the COPE. For example, I understand that it is a Likert scale from 1-4, but are there cut off score for each domain (high/Low) or do you sum up the ratings of each item in each of the three main scales? What dignifies a high score, medium score or low score in each scale (are there cut off’s for those)? I am also looking for information on the “other” domains that do not fit in the three main scales, such as humor and substance use. How are those scored and how do you interpret those?
I know this is a lot. Thank you!
Hi Shay,
It can be tricky to get this information about scoring interpretation sometimes. It tends to be more common for scales that are applied in clinical settings (e.g., the Beck Depression Inventory), but these cut-offs (e.g., for high, medium, and low levels of a variable) do not always exist outside of clinical settings. I’d say your best bet would be to reach out to the first author of the scale, Charles Carver, and see if they have any information on this. You’ll see at the bottom of the document containing the items, there are 15 subscales, including the humor and substance use subscales, but I don’t think there are published scoring cut-offs for these either.
Hope this helps a little!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi Nicole,
I am Nail. A researcher. I am currently doing my research using the Brief COPE. However, I couldn’t understand the scoring mechanism, such as this one ‘Self-Distraction= Cope1 + Cope19’. Is that mean if respondent scored 1 or 19, they had self-distraction? Hope you understand my point. Thanks
Kind regards,
Nail
Hi Nail,
Could you please link me to the scoring document you’ve drawn your information from? That way I can take a closer look.
Thanks!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello madam,
I am student of Bachleor Nursing i doing research on Stress and coping strategies related to pubertal changes among adolescents, so i want to use brief cope tool in my research, I will glad if you give me a permission to use it.
Thank you🙏
Hi Ashodha,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. However, if this is a requirement of your course, you can reach out to the scale’s creator, Charles Carver, here.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi dear authors,
lovely article with a fine collection of different coping scales.
I am going to do a sport specific study that is highly contextual, where the questionaires doesent really hit the nail precisely on the head. Do you know of any brief coping scales conducted/used in sport specific studies, that is publicly accesible that might be more appropriate for my experiment?
Hope for a positive response on this matter.
Hi Christopher,
Glad you liked the article! Perhaps check out Gaudreau and Blondin (2002), who have developed a scale assessing coping strategies among athletes in competitive sports.
Hope this helps!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Thanks for the reply,
although Gaudreau and Blondin`s scale is good, i found the scale hard to use since it was created in french, and didnt provide a back-translate double-check to english.
Since i am going to translate it to Norwegian, that can present a huge problem, but i found a good scale you might want to check out, if you dont already know of this, its called Coping function questionnaire, created by Crocker (2001)
Hello ma’am
We Nursing students from LPU College of Nursing asking your permission to use your research tool i.e Brief COPE for our research study that is “ Coping Mechanism of Nursing Students during COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A Study on Adapting to Asynchronous Learning” But were not totally copying it, we will just going to base from it.
Hoping for a positive response regarding this matter.
Thank you and God bless.
Respectfully yours,
Hi Thresia,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. However, if this is a requirement of your course, you can reach out to the scale’s creator, Charles Carver, here.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Dear Author,
I am a student of AMA Online University, taking up AB Psychology and find your article very helpful for students like me as it is informative and elaborative in explaining the different coping tests! I am currently working with a group on a thesis paper about coping strategies and so we are hoping to get your permission to use the COPE Inventory as a research tool.
Looking forward to hear from you soon.
Thank you & stay safe!
Jhoana
Hi Jhoana,
The scale is freely available to use, so you shouldn’t need written permission from the creators. However, if this is a requirement of your course, you can reach out to the scale’s creator, Charles Carver, here.
Hope this helps!
Greetings!
I am Hong Kah Kay, an undergraduate student studying Bachelor of Psychology. I am currently working on my final year research project at Taylor’s University, Malaysia. I would like to ask permission to use the COPE Inventory as my instrument in my study.
Hoping for your positive response on this request.
Thank you.
Regards,
Kah Kay
Hi Kah Kay,
Hi Grace,
The COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. You should not need permission from the creators to adapt it for your own research.
Hope this helps, and best of luck.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Greetings!
This is Grace Hope B. Rotamula, a BS Psychology student of Lyceum of the Philippines University Cavite. I am currently in process of creating my thesis proposal about Contact Comfort: The Importance of Affectionate Touch in Dealing with Emotional Distress of Filipino Young Adults.
In this regard, I am intending to use and modify specific items in COPE Inventory as part of my measuring instrument for my study with your permission.
Hoping for a positive response regarding this request. Thank you and God bless.
Grace Hope B. Rotamula
BS Psychology student
Hi Grace,
The COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. You should not need permission from the creators to adapt it for your own research.
Hope this helps, and best of luck.
– Nicole | Community Manager
dear madam,
i would like to use WAYS OF COPING SCALE by lazarus and folkman (1985) for my phd thesis. my topic is effectiveness of mindfulnes technique on stress ,coping and quality of life among women with breast cancer at selected hospital.i kindly request u to give me permission to use the scale for my study purpose at your earliest convenience .
thanking you ,
with regards,
c. mary sophia
Hi C. Mary,
I believe this scale is publicly available and free to use. You shouldn’t need Lazarus and Folkman’s permission to use it — you’ll just need to find it in one of their papers.
Good luck!
– Nicole | Community Manager
Dear Ma’am,
Good day!
I am Amie Menguita, and I am currently working on my postgraduate thesis at Notre Dame of Midsayap College, Philippines. I would like to ask permission if I can use the Brief Cope as my instrument in my study.
Hoping for your positive response.
Thank you and God bless.
Hi Amie,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Thanks a lot. It will be of great help for me.
Madam:
Greetings of peace and joy from the Philippines. My name is Joseph B. Abang, a registered nurse by profession but a teacher by practice since I embarked on teaching as my field. Currently, I am in the process of creating my Thesis proposal about AGING RETIREMENT PLAN AND COPING APPROACHES AMONG NURSES IN THE ACADEME AND HOSPITALS here in Cagayan de Oro City. It is so fortunate that I found your tool online and quite interested in using it as part of my instrument in the conduct of my study. I am sending this letter of permission to use this tool in my study. Hoping for a positive response regarding this request. Thank you very much and MABUHAY!
Hi Joseph,
Glad you found this post helpful! The Brief Cope inventory is freely available to use and can be accessed here. But if you’re after a different scale, let me know which one and I can hopefully point you in the right direction 🙂
– Nicole | Community Manager
Good day.
I am an undergraduate student from San Pedro College. My team and I are currently conducting our research entitled “the study habits and coping strategies among level 2 and level 3 student nurses during their Online related learning experience”.
I am writing this letter to ask for your permission to use the brief COPE questionnaire for our survey instrument tool.
I am hoping for your response.
Thank you.
Hi Jasmine,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Dear madam,
I am an undergraduate student of Ph D in Clinical Psychology at University of Santo Tomas-Manila, Philippines. I am conducting research for my dissertation on Examining the Problematic Internet Use amongst Filipino University Students: A Model Building Initiative on Coping with Psychological Distress.
In this regard, I am intending to use the Brief COPE Inventory together with the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale as my measuring instruments for my study with your permission.
Thank you and God bless.
Respectfully yours,
Jennifer Serrano,RGC, RPm
Hi Jennifer,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hello
Iam an msc mental health nursing student from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria presently on dissertation assessing coping strategies used by the survivors of rural banditry in Zamfara State, Nigeria. May I use this Brief COPE inventory as my data collection instrument
Hi Tasiu,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here. However, if this is a requirement of your course, you can reach out to the scale’s creator, Charles Carver, here.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Dear madam,
I am an undergraduate student of BSC Psychology at University of west London. I am conducting research for my dissertation on Perceived stress, Quality of life and coping strategies among the caregivers of children with physical and mental impairments.
I am intending on using the Brief COPE Inventory together with the perceived Stress Scale and WHO QOF brief version as my measuring instruments for my study.
I am writing to you to obtain permission to use the Brief COPE Inventory. Please be good enough to grant me permission for the same.
Thanking you very much in advance
Best Regard
Irfana Shabry
Hi Irfana,
The Brief COPE inventory is freely available for use and can be accessed here.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi Ma’am Nicole! Can I use these coping strategies scale for free for my thesis? It would be of great help to my studies. Thank you!
Hi Cris,
With the exception of the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (which you’ll need to email the author to obtain), all of these scales are freely available to use, so go ahead! Just make sure you cite the scales’ creators in your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
The article was really very helpful.😁😁
But could i get access to coping self effecacy scale.
Hi Anushka,
Glad you found the article helpful. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the Coping Self-efficacy Scale, please email the author, Dr. Margaret Chesney, to request permission at margaret.chesney@ucsf.edu.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Great article and very useful scales! Are they free to use for students? I’m doing my degree in Psychology and would like to focus on differences between introverts and extraverts in how they cope with stressful or problematic situations. Thank you. Claudia
Hi Claudia,
Yes, all scales can be used for free. You will find the links to each at the end of the respective sub-sections. Just ensure that you cite the creators in your research.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Perfect, thank you! 🙂
Good Day Mam! I’m currently working on my Masteral Thesis right now, and I would like to ask for your permission to use Cope Inventory as one of my tools in my study.
for your advise,
rox
Hi Roxanne,
You can access the Carver Brief COPE Inventory here (and by clicking Access Measure at the bottom of the page). Just ensure you cite the creator(s)in your research.
– Nicole Community Manager
Good evening maam, I am Gemmalyn M. Navarro a PhD student and currently working on my dissertation, i would like to ask permission from you, if i could utilize the tool on Brief Coping Mechanism as my instrument in my study. Hoping for your favorable response on this request. thank you and God bless
Hi Gemmalyn,
Thank you for reading. The inventory is available to use for free (just ensure you cite the authors in your research). You can access it here (and by clicking Access Measure at the bottom of the page).
– Nicole Community Manager
Hello ma’am
We BSC Nursing Intern students from college of nursing ,Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital New Delhi, India want permission to use your research tool i.e Brief COPE for our research study that is “ *A descriptive study to assess the psychological impact and coping strategies of health care professionals (HCPs) during the outbreak of Novel Corona Virus disease 2019 (COVID 19) at COVID 19 dedicated hospitals of New Delhi*”.
Kindly give us the permission for same
Regards
Hi Priya,
Thank you for reading. The inventory is available to use for free (just ensure you cite the authors in your research). You can access it here (and by clicking Access Measure at the bottom of the page).
– Nicole Community Manager
Oh my God… this article sooooo usefull.. thank you so much to share
Thanks very much for your comprehensive article on coping scales–How about another article on how to evaluate how people are coping with covid quarantining, school challenges, politics. Coping is a fascinating topic!
Hi Ruth,
So glad you enjoyed the post, and thank you for the great suggestion! I’ll be sure to pass this on to our editing team. 🙂
– Nicole | Community Manager
I am a behavior analyst and I found this article incredibly helpful. I primarily work with children and was wondering if there is a coping scale you prefer for children.
Hi Ali,
Glad you found the article helpful, and good question! I’d suggest checking out this scale by Brodzinsky et al. and seeing whether it’s the kind of thing you’re looking for.
– Nicole | Community Manager
i want brief cope inventory for research purpose pls provide me if anyone have?
Hi Amreen,
You can access the Carver Brief COPE Inventory here (and by clicking Access Measure at the bottom of the page).
– Nicole Community Manager
hy, i need it too… did you get it? please tell or share, ill be very thankful
Good day.
I wish to use the COPE inventory, however the link or site seems to appear not working (error) therefore I would like to respectfully ask to use the COPE Inventory.
Thank you!
Hi Eileen,
I’m sorry to hear you had trouble accessing the inventory. Try visiting this link, and you will find a file called ‘Scale and Instructions’ that you can download toward the bottom of the page (in the meantime, I’ll pass word of this error on to our editing team).
– Nicole | Community Manager
Good day!
I am Mary Care Catubay, a guidance advocate of Jose Rizal Memorial State University in Dapitan City Philippines. I would like to ask permission to use the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS). This will be disseminated to our students as part of our intake interview for the incoming school year 2020-2021 in the Guidance Office. Hoping for a positive response regarding this matter.
Thank you and God bless.
Respectfully yours,
Mary Care R. Catubay, RPm
Guidance Advocate
Hi Mary,
The scale is freely available to download and use. You can find the items and all the information about its validation in the paper at this link.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Superb….. very much helpful…tnx
Mam, may I use brief coping residence scale and coping self efficiency scale in my research on covid
Hi Shabnam,
Of course! Just ensure that you cite the original authors in any published research. 🙂 Best of luck with your project.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi. Can i have a the COPE inventory? due to link cannot be open and shows error.
Thank you.
Hi Qyla,
I believe this link has been fixed. You can find the inventory here.
– Nicole | Community Manager
Dear Nicole can i use Brief cope for measuring coping with mental illness(Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder ,depression and others in mixed with mental illness) ?
Hi Alemu,
Yes, you can 🙂
– Nicole | Community Manager
Hi Elaine,
The link for the Dyadic Coping Inventory does not seem to be working. When the link was opened, it show The Proactive Coping Inventory’s file.
Thankyou
Hi Oka
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Please try again, it should take you to the correct document now.
This is karthik M.phil Clinical Social Work Student from Chennai, now I plan to do my research in Nephrology domain. my topic is “A Mediating Effect Of Coping Skills Between Personality Traits And Health Related Quality Of Life Of Patients Of Chronic Kidney Disease” please help me which one the COPE scale would be much relevant for my topic.
hi, can i have the Carver Brief COPE in pdf form? i need it for my research
hi friend i’m wayan from Bali indonesia, need some help to looking for the true of PFC dan EFC. would you like to help me.
i mean true quisitionaire of PFcC and EFC
thanks
Hi Wayan
Could you perhaps elaborate so I can see how to assist?
Thanks
Hi, I have problem to open the link `Brief Resilient Coping Scale`. For your kind help please.
Hi Jolene,
I have just clicked the link and all seems to be working fine – can you try again and let me know what exactly happens on your side?
Thanks!
Hi Elaine Mead
i am facing problem in opening “Brief Cope Inventory”
kindly send me full Inventory with its scoring instru tions.
I will be gratefull to you.
Hi Juvaria
Please follow this link:
https://scienceofbehaviorchange.org/measures/brief-cope/
And click on the Button: Access Measure
Plz give me instructions how I can use Carver’s cope inventory in research and do interpretation plz reply in my email address thank you
The link for the Dyadic Coping Inventory does not seem to be working.
Hi Debbie,
I have just clicked the link and all seems to be working fine – can you try again and let me know if it still doesn’t work for you?
Thanks!
hye. i have problem to open link the Carver Brief COPE Inventory (+PDF). could you please recheck for me.
thank you so much!
I practice as a social emotional wellbeing counsellor within a Aboriginal Medical Centre . I am a Australian Aboriginal mature age woman who loves to learn.
Hi Christine,
Thanks for your comments and being a part of our community – it’s great to have you hear! Sounds like you have an exceptionally rewarding role.
Kind regards,
Elaine
A terrific article that provides insights and, for me at least, a clearer understanding of coping and the ways to provide support and assistance, along with the tools that enable that to happen.
Hi Kevin,
Thanks so much for your positive feedback – so pleased the article resonated with you and benefitted your personal knowledge!
Thanks again for contributing to the community.
kind regards,
Elaine