Abstract
Religious coping to deal with negative life events has gained considerable attention in recent years. This study was conducted to investigate psychometric properties of the Persian version of Brief RCOPE measure (RCOPE-P). The RCOPE-P was devised using a standard translation/back-translation procedure and its internal consistency and test–retest reliability were estimated using Cronbach’s alpha and intraclass correlation coefficients. The instrument’s factor structure was appraised in a sample population of 400 older adults with chronic diseases. Positive and negative subscales of the RCOPE-P indicated acceptable internal consistency (0.74, 0.80) and test–retest reliability (0.89, 0.91). Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed fitness of the original 2-factor model (root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.046, CFI = 0.967, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) = 0.953, and standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.052) to the data obtained from the study. The findings endorsed applicability of the RCOPE-P for the Persian-speaking older adults but its adaptability in other Persian-speaking population subgroups must be further examined.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10943-021-01229-2/MediaObjects/10943_2021_1229_Fig1_HTML.png)
References
Ahmadi, F., Khodayarifard, M., Zandi, S., Khorrami-Markani, A., Ghobari-Bonab, B., Sabzevari, M., & Ahmadi, N. (2018). Religion, culture and illness: A sociological study on religious coping in Iran. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 21(7), 721–736. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2018.1555699
Al-Hadethe, A., Hunt, N., Thomas, S., & Al-Qaysi, A. (2016). Cross-cultural validation and psychometric properties of the Arabic Brief Religious Coping Scale (A-BRCS). Journal of Religion and Health, 55(1), 16–25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-014-9963-7
Asare, M., & Danquah, S. (2017). The African belief system and the patient’s choice of treatment from existing health models-the case of Ghana. Acta Psychopathologica, 3(4), 49. https://doi.org/10.4172/2469-6676.100121
Bakhtiyari, F., Foroughan, M., Fakhrzadeh, H., Nazari, N., Najafi, B., Alizadeh, M., Arzaghi, M., Sharifi, F., Shoaee, S., & Mostafa, Q. (2014). Validation of the Persian version of Abbreviated Mental Test (AMT) in elderly residents of Kahrizak charity foundation. Iranian Journal of Diabetes and Metabolism, 13(6), 487–494.
Brown, T. A. (2019). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research (2nd ed.). The Guilford Press.
Bullinger, M., Alonso, J., Apolone, G., Leplège, A., Sullivan, M., Wood-Dauphinee, S., Gandek, B., Wagner, A., Aaronson, N., Bech, P., & Fukuhara, S. (1998). Translating health status questionnaires and evaluating their quality: the IQOLA project approach. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 51(11), 913–923. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0895-4356(98)00082-1
Caporossi, J., Trouillet, R., & Brouillet, D. (2018). Validation of a French version of a brief measurement of religious coping: Brief-RCOPE. Psychologie Francaise, 63(2), 201–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psfr.2011.12.001
Choi, S. A., & Hastings, J. F. (2019). Religion, spirituality, coping, and resilience among African Americans with diabetes. Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, 38(1), 93–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/15426432.2018.1524735
Costa, D. T., Silva, D. M. R. D., Cavalcanti, I. D. L., Gomes, E. T., Vasconcelos, J. L. A., & Carvalho, M. V. G. (2019). Religious/spiritual coping and level of hope in patients with cancer in chemotherapy. Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 72(3), 640–645. https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2018-0358
Davoudvandi, F., & Shokri, O. (2015). Rahbordhaye moghabeleh mazhabi mosbat va manfi: tahlil ravansanji meghias moghabeleh mazhabi dar bein daneshjouian Irani [Positive and negative religious coping strategies: psychometric analysis of religious coping scale among Iranian students]. Psychology and Religion, 8(1), 41–62.
Esperandio, M., Escudero, F., Fernandes, M., & Pargament, K. (2018). Brazilian validation of the brief scale for spiritual/religious coping—SRCOPE-14. Religions, 9(1), 31. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9010031
Field, A. (2017). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics. Sage.
Gall, T. L., & Bilodeau, C. (2020). The role of positive and negative religious/spiritual coping in women’s adjustment to breast cancer: A longitudinal study. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, 38(1), 103–117. https://doi.org/10.1080/07347332.2019.1641581
Greer, D. B., & Abel, W. M. (2017). Religious/spiritual coping in older African American women. The Qualitative Report, 22(1), 237.
Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: a Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118
IBM Corp. (2016). IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 24.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.
Khan, Z. H., & Watson, P. J. (2006). Construction of the Pakistani religious coping practices scale: correlations with religious coping, religious orientation, and reactions to stress among Muslim university students. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 16(2), 101–112. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327582ijpr1602_2
Kim, H. Y. (2013). Statistical notes for clinical researchers: Assessing normal distribution (2) using skewness and kurtosis. Restorative Dentistry & Endodontics, 38(1), 52–54. https://doi.org/10.5395/rde.2013.38.1.52.
Korsah, K. A., & Domfeh, K. A. (2020). Research Topic: The realities of religious coping experiences of patients with diabetes mellitus: Implications for policy formulation in Ghana. International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences, 13, 100245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijans.2020.100245
Lawshe, C. H. (1975). A quantitative approach to content validity 1. Personnel Psychology, 28(4), 563–575. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1975.tb01393.x
Lee, M., Nezu, A. M., & Nezu, C. M. (2014). Positive and negative religious coping, depressive symptoms, and quality of life in people with HIV. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 37(5), 921–930. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-014-9552-y
Lin, C. Y., Saffari, M., Koenig, H. G., & Pakpour, A. H. (2018). Effects of religiosity and religious coping on medication adherence and quality of life among people with epilepsy. Epilepsy & Behavior, 78, 45–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2017.10.008
Martinez, N. C., & Sousa, V. D. (2011). Cross-cultural validation and psychometric evaluation of the Spanish Brief Religious Coping Scale (S-BRCS). Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 22(3), 248–256. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043659611404426
McHorney, C. A., & Tarlov, A. R. (1995). Individual-patient monitoring in clinical practice: are available health status surveys adequate? Quality of Life Research, 4(4), 293–307. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01593882
Mesquita, A. C., Chaves Éde, C., Avelino, C. C., Nogueira, D. A., Panzini, R. G., & de Carvalho, E. C. (2013). The use of religious/spiritual coping among patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem, 21(2), 539–545. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-11692013000200010
Mohammadzadeh, A., & Najafi, M. (2016). Factor analysis and validation of the Brief Religious Coping Scale (Brief-RCOPE) in Iranian university students. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 19(8), 911–919. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2017.1282445
Nasrolahi, A., Roux, J.-M., Ghasvarian Jahromi, L., & Khalili, M. (2019). Assessment of local people opinion after world heritage site designation, case Study: historic city of Yazd. Iran. Heritage, 2(2), 1739–1747. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage2020106
Nikmanesh, Z., & Azaraein, S. (2017). The role of religious coping in perception of suffering among patients undergoing dialysis. Jundishapur Journal of Chronic Disease Care, 6(2). https://sites.kowsarpub.com/jjcdc/articles/14209.html
Paika, V., Andreoulakis, E., Ntountoulaki, E., Papaioannou, D., Kotsis, K., Siafaka, V., Fountoulakis, K. N., Pargament, K. I., Carvalho, A. F., & Hyphantis, T. (2017). The Greek-Orthodox version of the Brief Religious Coping (B-RCOPE) instrument: psychometric properties in three samples and associations with mental disorders, suicidality, illness perceptions, and quality of life. Annals of General Psychiatry, 16(1), 13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12991-017-0136-4
Pargament, K. I. (1997). The psychology of religion and coping: theory, research, practice. Guilford Press.
Pargament, K. I. (2011). Spiritually integrated psychotherapy: Understanding and addressing the sacred. Guilford Press.
Pargament, K. I., Koenig, H. G., & Perez, L. M. (2000). The many methods of religious coping: Development and initial validation of the RCOPE. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 56(4), 519–543. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4679(200004)56:4%3c519::AID-JCLP6%3e3.0.CO;2-1
Pargament, K. I., Koenig, H. G., Tarakeshwar, N., & Hahn, J. (2004). Religious coping methods as predictors of psychological, physical and spiritual outcomes among medically ill elderly patients: A two-year longitudinal study. Journal of Health Psychology, 9(6), 713–730. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105304045366
Pargament, K., Feuille, M., & Burdzy, D. (2011). The Brief RCOPE: Current psychometric status of a short measure of religious coping. Religions, 2(1), 51–76. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel2010051
Pargament, K. I., & Mahoney, A. (2005). Sacred Matters: Sanctification as a vital topic for the psychology of religion. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 15(3), 179–198. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327582ijpr1503_1.
Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2006). The content validity index: are you sure you know what’s being reported? Critique and recommendations. Research in Nursing & Health, 29(5), 489–497. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.20147
Rohani, C., Khanjari, S., Abedi, H. A., Oskouie, F., & Langius-Eklöf, A. (2010). Health index, sense of coherence scale, brief religious coping scale and spiritual perspective scale: psychometric properties. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 66(12), 2796–2806. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2010.05409.x
Rosmarin, D. H., Pargament, K. I., Krumrei, E. J., & Flannelly, K. J. (2009). Religious coping among Jews: Development and initial validation of the JCOPE. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65(7), 670–683. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20574
Shrout, P. E., & Fleiss, J. L. (1979). Intraclass correlations: uses in assessing rater reliability. Psychological Bulletin, 86(2), 420. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.86.2.420
Solaimanizadeh, F., Mohammadinia, N., & Solaimanizadeh, L. (2020). The relationship between spiritual health and religious coping with death anxiety in the elderly. Journal of Religion and Health, 59(4), 1925–1932. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00906-7
StataCorp. (2015). Stata Statistical Software: Release 14. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP.
Statistical Center of Iran. (2016). Population and housing census. Retrieved February 20, 2020, from https://www.amar.org.ir/english/Population-and-Housing-Censuses
Taber, K. S. (2018). The use of Cronbach’s alpha when developing and reporting research instruments in science education. Research in Science Education, 48(6), 1273–1296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-016-9602-2
Talik, E. B. (2013). The adolescent religious coping questionnaire. Translation and cultural adaptation of Pargament’s RCOPE scale for polish adolescents. Journal of Religion and Health, 52(1), 143–215. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-011-9464-x
Tarakeshwar, N., Pargament, K. I., & Mahoney, A. (2003). Initial development of a measure of religious coping among Hindus. Journal of Community Psychology, 31(6), 607–628. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.10071
Tarakeshwar, N., Hansen, N., Kochman, A., & Sikkema, K. J. (2005). Gender, ethnicity and spiritual coping among bereaved HIV-positive individuals. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 8(2), 109–125. https://doi.org/10.1080/1367467042000240383
Thune-Boyle, I. C., Stygall, J. A., Keshtgar, M. R., & Newman, S. P. (2006). Do religious/spiritual coping strategies affect illness adjustment in patients with cancer? A systematic review of the literature. Social Science & Medicine, 63(1), 151–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.11.055
Vitorino, L. M., Low, G., & Vianna, L. A. C. (2016). Linking spiritual and religious coping with the quality of life of community-dwelling older adults and nursing home residents. Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, 2, 2333721416658140. https://doi.org/10.1177/2333721416658140
Wilkum, K., & MacGeorge, E. L. (2010). Does God matter? Religious content and the evaluation of comforting messages in the context of bereavement. Communication Research, 37(5), 723–745. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650209356438
World Health Organization. (2009). Process of translation and adaptation of instruments. Retrieved March 23, 2020, from https://www.who.int/substance_abuse/research_tools/translation/en/
Yong, A. G., & Pearce, S. (2013). A beginner’s guide to factor analysis: Focusing on exploratory factor analysis. Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 9(2), 79–94.
Zeilani, R., & Seymour, J. E. (2010). Muslim women’s experiences of suffering in Jordanian intensive care units: a narrative study. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 26(3), 175–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iccn.2010.02.002
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully thank all the Zoroastrian and Muslim older adults who participated in this study and also, health workers of the Shahid Rajaei and Panbehkaran health centers in the city of Yazd for their cooperation.
Funding
This study was funded by the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran (Grant Number: 5/D/204311–97-06–17).
Author information
Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Ethical Approval
Approval was obtained from the institutional level Medical Ethics Board of Trustees (MEBoT) in the Yazd University of Medical Sciences (Ethics Approval Number: IR.SSU.SPH.REC.1397.092). The study was performed in accordance with the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.
Informed Consent
An informed written consent was obtained from all the study attendees or their legally authorized representatives (in the case of illiterate participants) before completing the RCOPE-P.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rezaeipandari, H., Morowatisharifabad, M.A., Mohammadpoorasl, A. et al. Psychometric Rigor of the Brief Religious Coping Measure (RCOPE) in Persian-Speaking Older Adults. J Relig Health (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-021-01229-2
Accepted:
Published:
Keywords
- Religious Coping
- Older Adults
- Psychometric Properties
- RCOPE