Validity and feasibility of a nurses’ coping questionnaire for its use in ecological momentary assessment

Abstract

Background: Easy measures are needed in EMA. We explain the construction, validity and feasibility of a 10-item coping questionnaire, based on COPE, following a structure of one item for each strategy, grouped on four dimensions: problem-focused (active coping and planning); emotion-focused (acceptance, reinterpretation and relaxation); seeking for social support (emotional and instrumental support); and disengagement (denial, venting, and self-blame). Method: Three experts selected the items, according to its representativeness and applicability to EMA. Complementary data was obtained from 85 nursing students, who filled out two coping questionnaires,: the COPE and the CRI-A. Experts’ proposal was readjusted based on factorial loadings and correlation with other coping questionnaire. 10 hospital ward nurses completed the final version of the questionnaire using a dichotomous scale (yes/not), during five working days, in a smartphone programmed with random alarms. They responded in relation to the coping used to deal with the task they were undergoing when the alarm rang. Findings: 5 nurses used coping strategies in between 20% and 40% of the situations, while 4 used strategies in between 90% and 100% of the situations, and one of them didn’t cope any time. When coping, all of them reported mostly the use of one unique strategy, and in less than 3 of the maximum of 28 reports for each nurse, two combined strategies were reported. Problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies were the most frequently used, and disengagement the less. Discussion: results from both studies show that this questionnaire could be valid and feasible for use in EMA.