0 - Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine

Biopsychosocial Effects Among Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Patients 32
one to five scale. The MPQ is a frequently used psychometric in pain populations. Test
retest reliability on the MPQ has shown strong coefficients for the pain rating indices.
Studies on the validity show significant distinction between sensory and affective
responses. Overall it has excellent evaluative purpose and further studies are well
documented (Melzak, 1975; 1987).
Assessing Coping. Coping will be measured by The Brief COPE (Carver, 1997).
The Brief COPE consists of 14 scales, of two items each. Respondents mark their uses of
each of the coping options in dealing with the stressful encounter in their current
situations. The scale ranges from one "I haven't been doing this at all" to four "I've been
doing this a lot". The Brief COPE can be set to measure the following constructs:
1) Problem focused coping: active coping (items: 2, 7), self-distraction (items: 1,
19), positive reframing (items: 12, 17), planning (items: 14,25), use of
instrumental support (items: 10, 23). 2) Emotion Focused Coping: use of
emotional support (items: 5, 15), behavioral disengagement (items: 6, 16), venting
(items: 9,21), religion (items: 22,27), and substance abuse (items: 4, 11). Four
constructs will not be measured into these categories: self-blame (items: 13,26),
humor (items: 18,28), acceptance (items: 20,24), and denial (items: 3, 8).
These items will be correlated individually. All responses will be evaluated in relation to
other variables. The scores will not be evaluated as an overall coping index. The problem­
focused scale and emotion-focused scale will be used in the analysis of this study in
context of the relationship it has with other variables. During a factor analysis of the Brief
Cope an eigan valuae of 1.0 was discovered, accounting for 725 of the variance. Test
retest reliability shows a .60 and is considered acceptable along with the validity at .72
(Carver, 1997).