Development of the Coping Strategies Questionnaire 24, a Clinically Utilitarian Version of the Coping Strategies Questionnaire.

Abstract

Objective: To use principal-components analysis to obtain a shorter and therefore more clinically useful version of the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ). Subjects: A British sample of 214 chronic back pain patients attending outpatient spinal assessment. Results: A 4-factor solution was discovered that incorporates Catastrophizing, Diversion, Cognitive Coping, and Reinterpreting factors. Apart from the absence of a Praying and Hoping factor, this solution is similar to those previously found by researchers in this field. Conclusions: The new questionnaire (the CSQ24) is a valid utilitarian version of the CSQ that is easy to score and is appropriate for clinical use. In recent years, the effective management of chronic musculoskeletal pain, especially chronic low back pain (CLBP), has become a topical area of research. This is primarily because of a significant increase in the number of people seeking treatment for this condition (Clinical Standards Advisory Group, 1994) and a realization that the majority of common treatment options are unsuccessful (Barton, 2000; Clinical Standards Advisory Group, 1994; Evans & Richards, 1996). Specifically, the observation that physically and pathologically similar patients may react very differently to their condition has led to great interest in the cognitive and behavioral coping mechanisms such patients demonstrate. It was through the work of authors such as Lazarus and Folkman