Validation de la version française d’une échelle abrégée de coping religieux : Brief-RCOPE

Abstract

The involvement of religious beliefs and practices in the way of coping with stressful events is coined by the term of religious coping. It is commonly distinguished the positive from the negative patterns of religious coping (i.e., a secure and a less secure relationship with God respectively) as assessed by the Brief RCOPE. The interest for the religious coping patterns lies in their predictive value for the quality of the adjustment to stress. After controlling for the effects of sociodemographic variables, and nonreligious coping measures, the positive pattern is a significant predictor of well-being while the negative pattern promotes a poorer physical and mental health. This study was designed to validate the French version of the Brief RCOPE. MethodParticipants. Our sample (N=250) included students in psychology and community dwelling people. Assessments. Religious coping (Brief-RCOPE), coping strategies (Brief COPE), personality (TCI-56), social support (SSQ), perceived stress (PSS), depression (HADS), life-events (SRRS), religious outcomes and global religious scales. Statistical analyses. We performed an Exploratory Factorial Analysis (EFA) with Oblimin rotation (structural validity) and correlations (Pearson’r) between the two Brief RCOPE scales and the other measures included in this study (criterion validity). The Cronbach alpha (internal consistency) and the ICC correlations (test–retest) were calculated to estimate the reliability of the two dimensions of the Brief RCOPE. ResultsValidity. The EFA provides a two-factor solution differentiating the negative items (negative pattern) and the positive items (positive pattern). Convergent and criterion validity: Positive religious coping was positively associated with the social support satisfaction dimension, global religious measure, religious outcomes, the Brief COPE's religious dimension and the self transcendence scale. It was not associated with the disponibility dimension of social support and with the life events score. Negative religious coping was positively associated with perceived stress, depression, life events, global religious measure and religious outcomes. It was not associated with the social support dimensions. This results support the criterion validity of the scale. Reliability. Internal consistency and temporal stability are satisfactory. DiscussionThe French translation of the Brief RCOPE consists of a valid and easy-to-use method to assess the positive and negative patterns of religious coping. Our results confirm the positive pattern predicts a better adjustment to strains and the limits of this study are discussed.