Adaptation and validation of the Tunisian version of the Brief COPE Scale

Abstract

Introduction: The coping strategies used by an individual to control, reduce or tolerate aversive situations are fundamental in understanding the psychological functioning. Objective: To translate and validate into Arabic the Brief Cope (Carver, 1989; Muller & Spitz, 2003) to Tunisian Arabic population. Methodology: We applied to Brief Cope the translation/ back translation procedure that was carried out by bilingual professional translators. Then a committee of experts reviewed the translations to make the necessary cultural adaptations. For pre-testing, a sample of n=34 completed the questionnaire in order to test for misunderstanding and acceptability of questions. For divergent validity, we used the WHOQOL-Brief (Baumann & col, 2009). Results: Factor analysis with Varimax rotation revealed that the translated and adapted scale has satisfactory psychometric qualities. The internal consistency of the 14 dimensions assessed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient were between α =.63 and α =.94. Expected divergent validity results suggested good construct validity. Conclusion: The preliminary Arabic version of the Brief cope presents satisfactory psychometric qualities. Other studies are underway for creating new dimensions as dramatization and rumination.