Adaptation of the Defensive Style Questionnaire 60 (DSQ-60) within a Iranian Cancer Patients Sample

Abstract

Background: Defense mechanisms defined as unconscious process, cognitive operations alter by developmental periods for protective function, and that can be assessment of personality and experimental schedules. Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ-60) is a self-report instrument designed to measuredefensive functioning and coping styles. The aim of this study was to adaptive theDSQ-60 in a sample of cancer patients in Iran using exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic procedures. Method:The DSQ-60 was used to measure the conscious derivatives of three factors defense styles includeimage.distorting, affect.regulating and adaptive in a sample of 200 cancer patients. Result: Cronbach's coefficient alpha for image.distorting (ex = 0.54),affect.regulating (ex = 0.53) and adaptive (ex = 0.5) were found to be poor in terms of potential clinical significance,internal consistency for all components was acceptable (.68). Conclusion:Our results were consistent with the previous research on the DSQ-60 indicating that the psychometric features need to be improved before the wider use of the scale. Further, DSQ-60 is a suitable tool to assess cancer patients psychological defense styles and that may be used for psychological interventions to improve the care of these patients.