Proceedings of the 17th International Academic Conference, Vienna

ADAPTING THE BRIEF COPE AMONG CHINESE ADOLESCENTS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

WEI YUAN

Abstract:

The present research pioneered the effort in assessment of adolescents’ coping with stress related to visual impairment through adapting the Brief COPE for use with visually-impaired Chinese adolescents. Firstly, the Brief COPE was tested in Study 1 among a sample of 176 adolescent students from schools for the visually impaired in China, and was then modified based on the results of psychometric analysis and follow-up interviews with teachers and students in order to make it appropriate for the sample studied. The modified Brief COPE, renamed as COPE-Revised, showed generally good internal scale reliability and validity in Study 2 (N=184). With slight further modifications, the final COPE-Revised which was made up of ten three-item subscales revealed sufficient psychometric characteristics for Chinese adolescents with visual impairment in Study 3 (N = 334). Specifically, a parsimonious three-factor hierarchical structure for the COPE-Revised was tested and confirmed by CFA results. Meanwhile, results showed significant correlations between the Adapted COPE dimensions and self-esteem, indicating good criterion-related validity of this scale among the sample investigated. This research broadens the applicability of the Brief COPE, and also improved its quality. The resulted COPE-Revised provides a tool for research on children and adolescents with visual impairment and potentially contributes to providing educational services, intervention and counselling services for this population. Limitations are also discussed.

Keywords: Brief COPE, adolescents' coping with visual impairment, scale modification, psychometric properties, self-esteem

DOI: 10.20472/IAC.2015.017.109

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