COPING WITH CANCER - THE EVIDENCE FOR THE TEMPORAL STABILITY OF THE FRENCH-CANADIAN VERSION OF THE COPING WITH HEALTH INJURIES AND PROBLEMS(CHIP)

The literature suggests that coping is a moderating factor between str ess and health problems. To date only a few questionnaires on coping w ith health problems are available. However they have been developed to assess coping with only one specific health problem. The Coping with Health Injuries and Problems (CHIP; Endler and Parker, 1992; Endler et al., 1993) has been developed. to assess coping strategies with a var iety of health problems and injuries. This report examines the tempora l stability and the internal consistency reliability of the CHIP. A sa mple of 50 men with prostate cancer and 110 women with breast cancer w ere administered the French-Canadian version of the CHIP twice, with a n interval of two weeks between the two administrations. The mean scal e score at time 1 and time 2 were virtually identical. A high correlat ion was found between the two administrations. These results suggest t hat the CHIP is an instrument with excellent temporal stability (test- retest reliability). The internal consistency reliability was also qui te high. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.