Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales (F-COPES)

Abstract

The Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales (F-COPES) is a widely utilized psychological scale designed to measure specific behaviors and cognitive strategies employed by families in response to stress, transitions, or significant life difficulties. Developed within the framework of family stress and resilience theory, the instrument assesses how families utilize both internal resources (such as reframing and belief systems) and external resources (such as social and community support) to manage and overcome family crisis events. It provides researchers and clinicians with a clear profile of a family’s typical coping repertoire.

Keywords

Family coping, stress management, family resilience, social support, passive appraisal, reframing, psychological measurement, family crisis.

Authors

H. I. McCubbin, A. I. Thompson, A. Larson, D. Olson

Purpose

The primary purpose of the F-COPES instrument is to identify and evaluate the specific coping responses and patterns that families employ when confronted with challenging or stressful circumstances. By quantifying these responses, the scale helps differentiate between functional and potentially dysfunctional coping strategies, providing insight into which families are more likely to achieve positive adaptation following a crisis event.

The scale is instrumental in research focused on the relationship between family coping efficacy and long-term adjustment outcomes. Clinically, it serves as a diagnostic tool to help practitioners understand a family’s reliance on various internal and external resources, thereby guiding intervention strategies aimed at enhancing family resilience.

Construct

The F-COPES measures family coping strategies, which are defined as the cognitive and behavioral efforts made by the family unit to manage the demands and consequences of stressful events. The scale operates on the theoretical assumption that coping is a multidimensional process involving both active efforts to solve problems and passive methods of acceptance or avoidance. The instrument specifically captures five distinct patterns of coping behaviors, ranging from proactive engagement with resources to fatalistic acceptance of the situation.

Validity

Construct validity for the F-COPES has been established through factor analysis, confirming the theoretical separation of the five primary coping dimensions. Criterion-related validity is typically demonstrated by examining the correlations between F-COPES subscale scores and measures of family functioning, marital satisfaction, and overall psychological adjustment. Research often shows that families scoring high on active, resource-seeking factors (like Acquiring Social Support and Reframing) tend to exhibit better outcomes and higher levels of family cohesion compared to those who rely heavily on Passive Appraisal.

Reliability

Reliability of the F-COPES is generally strong across diverse populations. Internal consistency, typically measured using Cronbach’s alpha, has been reported in the acceptable to good range for the overall scale and its five subscales in various studies. Test-retest reliability has also supported the stability of the coping patterns measured by the instrument over time, suggesting that the F-COPES effectively captures enduring characteristics of a family’s approach to stress.

Factor Analysis

The factor analysis of the F-COPES typically yields five distinct factors or subscales, representing key dimensions of family coping behavior. These factors capture the breadth of resource mobilization and cognitive processing used by the family unit. The five factors identified are:

• Acquiring Social Support: Seeking assistance, encouragement, and material aid from relatives, friends, and neighbors.
• Reframing: Cognitive strategies involving the ability to redefine stressful events in a more positive light, maintain internal strength, and face problems proactively.
• Seeking Spiritual Support: Utilizing faith, church attendance, and religious beliefs as a source of comfort and strength during a crisis.
• Mobilizing the Family to Accept Help: Proactively seeking professional, medical, or community assistance and advice.
• Passive Appraisal: Acceptance of the situation, often characterized by fatalism, reliance on luck, or avoidance behaviors (e.g., waiting for the problem to resolve itself).

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological scale

Format: 30 items responded to using a 5-point Likert scale.

Language Available: Primarily English, but translations exist for various international studies.

Population Group: Family members, typically adolescents or adults, reporting on the family unit’s collective coping response.

Age Group: Typically utilized with adult family members (18+), though adapted versions may exist for younger populations.

Population Details: Applicable to diverse family structures facing normative or non-normative stressors, including illness, economic hardship, or relational conflicts.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate the frequency or extent to which their family uses specific coping behaviors when faced with difficulties, ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree). Scoring involves summing item responses within each of the five subscales, with certain items requiring reverse scoring (12, 17, 26, 28) to maintain directional consistency.

Keywords

Coping mechanisms, family assessment, stress inventory, resilience assessment, resource utilization, psychological measurement, McCubbin.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source materials.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source materials.

Correspondence Address: Information regarding the scale and its authors can often be found through the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where much of the early work on family resilience models originated. Current scale information is maintained by the McCubbin Resilience Center.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The F-COPES was initially developed and published around 1991. For information regarding permissions, usage fees, and current versions of the instrument, researchers are directed to the official McCubbin Resilience Organization website. The instrument can be found at: http://www.mccubbinresilience.org/measures.html.

Reference’s

The F-COPES is documented in major clinical resource books and academic publications, including:

• McCubbin, H. I., & Thompson, A. I. (eds). (1991). Family Assessment Inventories for Research and Practice. Madison, WI University of Wisconsin.
• McCubbin, H. I., Larson, A., & Olson, D. (1991). Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales (F-COPES). In: Fischer, Joel., Corcoran, Kevin J. (2007). Measures for Clinical Practice and research: A sourcebook. (4th ed.). NY. Oxford University Pr. Vol. 1, Page (s): 278-280.

Items of the Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales (F-COPES)

When we face problems/difficulties in our family we respond by:

1. Sharing our difficulties with relatives
2. Seeking encouragement and support from friends
3. Knowing we have the power to solve major problems
4. Seeking information and advice from persons in other families who faced the same or similar symptoms
5. Seeking advice from relatives
6. Seeking assistance from community agencies and programs designed to help families in our situation
7. Knowing that we have the strength within our own family to solve our problems
8. Receiving gifts and favors from neighbors (e.g. food‚ taking in the mail‚ etc.)
9. Seeking information and advice from the family doctor
10. Asking neighbors for favors and assistance
11. Facing the problems “head-on” and trying to get the situations right away
12. Watching television*
13. Showing that we are strong
14. Attending church services
15. Accepting stressful events as a fact of life
16. Sharing concerns with close friends
17. Knowing that luck plays a big part in how well we are able to solve family problems *
18. Exercising with friends to stay fit and reduce tension
19. Accepting that difficulties occur unexpectedly
20. Doing things with relatives (get-togethers‚ dinners‚ etc.)
21. Seeking professional counseling and help for family difficulties
22. Believing we can handle our own problems
23. Participating in church activities
24. Defining the family problem in a more positive way so that we do not become too discouraged
25. Asking relatives how they feel about problems we face
26. Feeling that no matter what we do to prepare‚ we will have difficulty handling problems*
27. Seeking advice from a minister
28. Believing if we wait long enough‚ the problem will go away*
29. Sharing problems with neighbors
30. ha‎ving faith in God

* reverse score

Response Scale: 1=Strongly Disagree‚ 2= Disagree‚ 3= Neutral‚ 4= Agree‚ 5= Strongly Agree

Subscale Item Groupings:

• Acquiring Social Support (1‚ 2‚ 5‚ 8‚ 10‚ 16‚ 20‚ 25‚ and 29)
• Reframing (3‚ 7‚ 11‚ 13‚ 15‚ 19‚ 22‚ and 24)
• Seeking Spiritual Support (1?‚ 14‚ 23‚ 27‚ and 30)
• Mobilizing the Family to Accept Help (4‚ 6‚ 9‚ and 21)
• Passive Appraisal (12‚ 17‚ 26‚ and 28)