A new questionnaire assessing coping strategies in relatives of patients with schizophrenia: development and factor analysis

This paper describes the development and validation of a questionnaire assessing the coping strategies adopted by relatives of patients with schizophrenia. The final version of the questionnaire includes 27 items, grouped into seven subscales (information, positive communication, social interests, coercion, avoidance, resignation and patient's social involvement), the intra-rater reliability of which ranges from 0.46 to 0.76. Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which tests the content validity of the subscales, ranges from 0.68 to 0.83. Factor analysis identifies three factors (problem-oriented coping strategies, emotionally focused strategies, and maintenance of social interests in association with patient's avoidance), accounting for 70.9% of the total variance. This questionnaire may be particularly useful for targeting and monitoring psychoeducational interventions in the families of patients with schizophrenia.