Development and Testing of a Contextually and Culturally Relevant Measure of Coping for use with Women Infected with HIV

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In this article, we describe the development and initial testing of a contextually and culturally relevant measure of coping. The instrument was developed and tested during several stages of a longitudinal study of 264 women with HIV infection carried out in rural and urban areas of a southeastern state. During the development phase, qualitative descriptions of how the participants were coping with HIV disease were collected in the first of five interviews conducted over a year. A fifty-four-item measure of coping was developed with individual items worded to reflect the descriptions provided by participants. The measure was submitted to testing during two of the final interviews with the participants. The results of psychometric testing revealed five valid and reliable coping subscales: avoidance, managing the illness, spirituality, seeking social support, and focusing on others. The results of psychometric assessment of the measure are reported and differences in coping strategies used based on socioeconomic factors are examined.

This publication has 32 references indexed in Scilit: