Development of Public Health Research Foundation (PHRF) version Stress Check List of Cognitive Appraisal and Coping Strategy

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop two scales, one measuring one's trend of cognitive appraisal, and the other measuring the usage trend of coping strategies against stressors. Most of the existing scales concerning cognitive appraisal and coping strategy are designed for limited usage to specific jobs or age groups. In this study, question items that are considered to be applicable regardless of the participant's job or age were collected from the existing scales of cognitive appraisal and coping strategy, as a step to develop scales with high generalities. Undergraduate and graduate students participated for more than once, and semantically redundant items were eliminated. As a result of factor analysis, 4 factors with 27 items were extracted for the cognitive appraisal scale, and 5 factors with 37 items for the coping strategy scale. These subscales and items were considered as minimal for both scales. Coefficient alphas showed high internal consistency.
The eventual goal is to expand the application of these scales to various developmental stages. Further research collecting data from other developmental stages would make this goal achievement.