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The Validity of the Malay Brief COPE in Identifying Coping Strategies among
Adolescents in Seconday School
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ABSTRACT
Objective: To determine the construct validity and the internal consistency of the Malay version Brief
COPE among secondary school adolescents hence in the future it could be used as a valid and reliable instru-
ment to identify their coping strategies
Methods: The original Brief COPE was translated into Malay language by previous study. It comprised of
28 items with 14 coping strategies. It was administered to a total of 100 secondary school adolescents. Data
was analysed using Statistical Package Social Sciences (SPSS) version 12. Factor analysis was applied to test
construct validity of the Malay Brief COPE. Reliability analysis was applied to test internal consistency of the
Malay Brief COPE.
Results: 90 participants participated in this study. The total Cronbach’s alpha value of the Malay version
Brief COPE was 0.83. Most of the coping strategies showed acceptable internal consistency as having
Cronbach’s alpha values more than 0.5. Most of the items were loaded nicely according to the coping strategies.
Conclusion: This study showed that the Malay Brief COPE had good psychometric value. It is a valid and
reliable instrument in identifying coping strategies of secondary school adolescent.
KEY WORDS
validity, reliability, secondary school students, coping, factor analysis
Factor analysis
METHODS
Collected data was analyzed using Statistical Packages
Social Sciences (SPSS) version 12. Factor Analysis was
done to determine the construct validity of the Malay Brief
The Malay brief COPE COPE. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test and Bartlett’s test
of sphericity was applied to measure the sampling adequa-
The original Brief COPE items were translated into cy10). The sample was considered adequate if i) KMO value
Malay language using forward and backward translation was more than 0.5 and ii) Bartlett’s test was significant (p-
methods by previous study 8). The Malay Brief COPE is a value less than 0.05). Principal Component Analysis (PCA)
self-reporting questionnaire and it consists of 28 statements method was applied in extraction of components.
that assesses on a particular way of coping. The Brief COPE Components with Eigenvalues of over 1 were retained as
measures how frequent person has been doing what the item components. With the assumption of all items were allowed
says to cope with stressful situations in daily life. The items to correlate with each other, Promax rotation was applied in
of the questionnaire were rated under 4 categories of order to optimize the loading factor of each item on the
responses; saya tidak melakukan ini langsung (I haven’t extracted components. Items with loading factor of more
been doing this at all), saya melakukan ini kadang-kala than plus or minus 0.3 were considered as an acceptable
sahaja (I have been doing this for a little bit), saya agak loading factor11).
kerap melakukan ini (I have been doing this a medium
amount), saya sangat kerap melakukan ini (I have been
doing this a lot). The recommended scoring method was the
least frequency of doing answers score 1 and the most fre- RESULTS
quency of doing answers score 4 - i.e. 1-2-3-45,9). The mini-
mum and maximum Brief COPE total scores were 2 and 8 A total of 90 (90%) responded to the questionnaire. 50
respectively. Similar scoring method was used in this study. (55.6%) were female students. All of the participants were
The 28 items of the Malays Brief COPE is shown in table 1. Malay and at age of 16.
100 secondary school students were selected to partici- The total alpha value of the Malay Brief COPE was
The Validity of the Malay Brief Cope in Identifying Coping Strategies among Adolescents in Secondary School 31
Table 1. The reliability analysis and factor analysis of the Brief COPE items
No Items *Coping a
Cronbach’s b
Factor b
Factor
strategy Alpha loading
1 Saya beralih kepada aktiviti/tugasan lain supaya saya melupakan
perkara tersebut.
0.83 V
(I’ve been turning to work or other activities to take my mind
off things.)
A 0.58
2 Saya membuat sesuatu untuk kurang memikirkan hal tersebut seperti
pergi, menonton wayang, menonton televisyen, membaca, berkhayal,
tidur atau membeli belah. 0.58 V
(I’ve been doing something to think about it less, such as going to
movies, watching TV, reading, daydreaming, sleeping, or shopping.)
3 Saya menumpukan usaha saya untuk melakukan sesuatu terhadap
situasi yang saya sedang alami.
0.71 VI
(I’ve been concentrating my efforts on doing something about
B 0.73
the situation I’m in.)
4 Saya mengambil tindakan untuk cuba menjadikan situasi itu lebih baik.
0.63 VI
(I’ve been taking action to try to make the situation better.)
5 Saya berkata pada diri sendiri, “ini bukan realiti”.
0.86 IX
(I’ve been saying to myself “this isn’t real”.)
C 0.34
6 Saya enggan mempercayai bahawa perkara tersebut telah berlaku.
0.11 IX
(I’ve been refusing to believe that it happened.)
7 Saya menggunakan alcohol atau dadah untuk menjadikan
saya berasa lega.
Cannot be calculated by
(I’ve been using alcohol or other drugs to make myself feel better.)
D SPSS due to less than two
8 Saya menggunakan alcohol atau dadah untuk membantu saya
non-zero variance items.
menghadapinya.
(I’ve been using alcohol or other drugs to help me get through it.)
0.83. Six coping strategies showed high internal consisten- ning, and used of instrumental and emotional support were in
cy as their Cronbach’s alpha values more than 0.7 9) . the similar factor. While the rest of coping strategies were
Whereas, Four coping strategies showed an acceptable loaded on distinct factors. However it is interesting to men-
internal consistency as their Cronbach’s alpha values were tion that items of substance abuse were not calculated by
more than 0.59). The rest of coping strategies having low SPSS due to the both items giving similar variance.
internal consistency as their Cronbach’s alpha values less
than 0.5 and the items need to be revised to improve the
items in the future. In general, this analysis suggested that
the items of the Malay Brief COPE were reliable as having DISCUSSION
overall high internal consistency.
The reliability analysis suggested that the Malay Brief
COPE shown high internal consistency as its Cronbach’s
Factor analysis alpha value was more than 0.79); this reflect the consistency
and reproducibility (reliability) of the instrument in identi-
The sample was adequate as indicated by i) a KMO fying coping strategies of adolescents in secondary school.
value of 0.69 and ii) Bartlett’s test of sphericity being sig- Furthermore, its reliability is comparable with the original
nificant (p-value < 0.001). Brief COPE as reported by the Carver6). Most of the coping
There were nine components having Eigenvalues more strategies have shown a measure of acceptable internal con-
than 1 with 71.15% of variance responding. The result is sistency as having Cronbach’s alpha value of more than 0.5
comparable with the original Brief COPE 6). The extraction as shown in table 1; it is another evidence to reflect the
result was shown in table 1. The factor analysis showed that reliability of the Malay Brief COPE. The finding is in
all items were constructed according to 14 coping strategies; keeping with the work of Carver in 1997 6). However, it
however, self-blame and behavioral disengagement, active seem that 3 coping strategies items, venting of emotion,
coping and acceptance, positive reinterpretation and plan- denial and acceptance, which shown poor reliability; all
The Validity of the Malay Brief Cope in Identifying Coping Strategies among Adolescents in Secondary School 33
items must be revised for further improvement. It is inter-
esting to highlight that the substance abuse coping cannot ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
be calculated by SPPS due to similar variances the two
items have; possible reason for this is because all partici-
pants gave similar answer. Perhaps similar study with bet- Our special thanks to Medical Students Facilitator Team
ter sample size can be conducted in the future to confirm for their contribution to this study. Our deepest apprecia-
the findings. Overall, present study findings provide evi- tion to the PPD Kota Bahru for their support in this study.
dence to support that the Malay Brief COPE was a reliable Our special thanks to Dr Ahmad Fuad Abdul Rahim and Dr
instrument that could be used in the future to indentify cop- Mohamad Najib Mat Pa from Medical Education
ing strategies among medical students. Department USM for their help in this study. Last but not
The factor analysis has shown that there are nine com- least, our deepest thanks to the students for their participa-
ponents extracted from the Malay Brief COPE and all the tion in this study.
items were loaded nicely into the components. 26 items fit
very well into the nine components as all the items had
loading factor of more than 0.310); It reflects that the Malay
Brief COPE had a good construct as well as it is an evi- REFERENCES
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