Designing and psychometric properties of coping strategies scale for family caregivers of hemodialysis patients

Abstract

The present study tries to design and evaluate the psychometric properties of coping strategies scale for family caregivers of hemodialysis patients. This study consisted of two phases: phase one was a qualitative study to analyze the experiences of coping strategies of hemodialysis patients' family caregivers' (N = 14). Then, the items were extracted from the interviews and the literature. Phase two was a psychometric assessment including face validity, content validity, construct validity (N = 245) and reliability. In phase one, 89 items were extracted and after face and content validity, 56 items remained. Construct validity of the scale, based on exploratory factor analysis, removed another 22 items. The remaining 34 items contained nine subscales (active coping, positive thinking, appeal to spirituality, help-seeking, altruism, acting out, self-blaming, seeking isolation, and intentional forgetting). The reliability of the scale with Cronbach's Alpha was 0.91 and its stability was obtained through test-retest (ICC = 0.9). Coping strategies scale for family caregivers of hemodialysis patients has an acceptable validity and reliability. The tool can be used to assess effective and ineffective coping strategies in family caregivers of hemodialysis patients that may be useful for facilitating management and education of efficient coping strategies to family caregivers of hemodialysis patients.

Psychometric Analysis of the Quarantine Coping Strategies Scale (Q-COPE) in the Spanish Language

“…A total of 43 items were elaborated and analyzed by 2 psychologists who considered the categories of emotional regulation [ 38 ], supported by other studies that address the advantages of attitudes that reduce frustration [ 39 ], search for reliable information [ 14 , 40 ], accommodations in accessing necessary supplies [ 45 , 46 ], social support [ 41 , 42 ] and altruism [ 19 , 43 , 44 ], establishing from these sources a table of specifications [ 56 ] with 5 contents: Emotional regulation (15 items), information (9 items), accommodation (9 items), social support (6 items), and altruism (4 items) with 3 types of manifestations: rational (13 items), emotional (20 items) and avoidance (10 items), giving emphasis to the most relevant contents and manifestations, which had a greater number of items, prioritizing clarity and simplicity, avoiding technicalities, negations and excessive prolixity, also avoiding ambiguity [ 57 ].…”

“…Thus, access to specific, current, and reliable health care information during quarantine is associated with less psychological impact [ 14 , 40 ]; (c) social support indicates seeking support from friends, family, and professionals through electronic means to obtain help or emotional support. Social support helps to cope with and reduce symptoms of anxiety and fear of the disease [ 41 , 42 ]; (d) altruism, focusing on the well-being of others who seek to conform to limitations in a sense of altruism [ 38 ] by following quarantine guidelines [ 19 , 43 , 44 ]. During the quarantine period, it is possible to engage in new activities, find moments of peace and calm, improve family ties, as well as enter into deep and meaningful contact with nature [ 39 ]; (e) accommodation, which seeks to adjust personal preferences to the constraints of the situation during the pandemic, is to accommodate limited access to supplies [ 38 ] provided by the state or some other means of production or provisioning [ 12 , 39 , 45 , 46 ].…”