THE DEAKIN COPING SCALE: STRATEGIES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF DEMANDS

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present The Deakin Coping Scale, a scale grounded in theory and in the qualitative reports of nurses’ coping strategies. Data from 201 nurses working in public and private hospitals revealed four reliable factors: appraisal, challenge/commitment, use of social resources and avoidance, which together explained 57% of the variance. The factor structure was cross-validated among university students. A second-order factor analysis revealed these factors loaded onto a latent variable labelled management of demands that was stable across genders. Three factors contributed positively to the management of demands, while avoidance contributed negatively. The negative contribution of avoidance suggests that emotion-based strategies are not effective in the management of demands. Further studies need to investigate the utility of these factors in mediating the impact of stressors on nurses’ wellbeing.