Coping in Patients With Incurable Lung and Gastrointestinal Cancers: A Validation Study of the Brief COPE

Abstract

Context Patients with incurable cancer engage in several coping styles to manage the impact of cancer and its treatment. The Brief COPE is a widely used measure intended to capture multiple, distinct types of coping. The Brief COPE has not been validated among patients with incurable cancer. Objectives We sought to validate seven subscales of the Brief COPE in a large sample of patients newly diagnosed with incurable lung and non-colorectal gastrointestinal cancers (N=350). Methods Participants completed the Brief COPE and measures assessing quality of life (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy – General) and psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) within eight weeks of diagnosis of incurable cancer. We evaluated the psychometric properties of the Brief COPE using a confirmatory factor analysis and tests of correlation with the quality of life and distress scales. Results The Brief COPE factors were consistent with the original subscales, though the behavioral disengagement scale had low internal consistency. Factors showed anticipated relationships with quality of life and distress measures, except emotional support coping, which was correlated with increased depression and anxiety. We also conducted an exploratory higher-order factor analysis to determine if subscales’ score variances grouped together. The higher-order factor analysis resulted in two factors, with active, emotional support, positive reframing, and acceptance loading onto one factor and denial and self-blame loading onto the second. Conclusion The selected subscales of the Brief COPE are appropriate measures of coping among individuals newly diagnosed with incurable lung and gastrointestinal cancers.

Patterns of stress coping and depression among patients with head and neck cancer: A Japanese cross‐sectional study

“…One important consequence is that dependent coping including smoking, drinking, seeking support, or engaging in self‐distraction, is the most common coping pattern among HNC patients. Our finding agrees with the coping studies on HNC patients; however, it disagrees with similar coping studies on patients with other types of cancer, which showed that the scores on planning, acceptance, active coping, or seeking support were high, whereas the scores on substance use were low . Therefore, our results might be unique to HNC patients.…”

“…Our finding agrees with the coping studies on HNC patients 15,16 ; however, it disagrees with similar coping studies on patients with other types of cancer, which showed that the scores on planning, acceptance, active coping, or seeking support were high, whereas the scores on substance use were low. [24][25][26][27][28] Therefore, our results might be unique to HNC patients. Patients with HNC may have to depend on someone because they suffer from dysfunction or disfigurement and have difficulty in activities of daily life.…”

Psychological correlates of sleep quality in lung cancer patients under chemotherapy: A single‐center cross‐sectional study

“…It has 14 subscales of two items each and measures ways of dealing with stress in a 4‐point scale, with higher scores meaning greater coping strategies . Psychometric properties of seven subscales of the original Brief COPE were evaluated in patients with advanced lung cancer and they exhibited good construct validity . Internal consistency of all items in the present study was good (Cronbach α = .84).…”

Coping Mechanism in Women with Breast Cancer

“…Coping mechanism is measured using a COPE Brief questionnaire consisting of 14 item questions that have been translated into Indonesian (Hagan et al, 2017). The COPE Brief consists of 7 indicators namely blame, acceptance, rejection, social support, positive reframing, effort made and avoidance behavior.…”