Iranian Religious Coping Scale

Abstract

The Iranian Religious Coping Scale (IRCS) is a psychometric instrument developed by Aflakseir and Colman in 2011 to measure culturally specific religious coping strategies utilized by the Iranian population, which is predominantly Shi’a Muslim. The scale addresses limitations found in Western-developed measures, such as the RCOPE, by incorporating items reflective of specific Islamic practices and theological concepts relevant to the Iranian context. The IRCS identifies five distinct factors of religious coping, offering a nuanced assessment of how individuals use their faith to manage stressful life events and difficulties.

Keywords

Religious coping, Iran, Muslim mental health, Shi’a Islam, psychological assessment, spirituality, Benevolent Reappraisal, Negative Feelings toward God.

Authors

Aflakseir, A., Colman, P.G.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the IRCS is the initial development and validation of a comprehensive measure for assessing religious coping mechanisms that are culturally and religiously relevant to Iranian individuals. Recognizing that general religious coping scales may lack sensitivity to specific practices like appealing to Imams or referencing the Qur’an, the IRCS aims to provide a more accurate and ecologically valid tool for researchers and clinicians working within this cultural demographic.

The scale serves to categorize coping strategies into distinct facets, allowing for the examination of their differential relationships with mental health outcomes. By differentiating between active and passive forms of coping, as well as positive and negative orientations toward God, the IRCS enables a deeper understanding of the adaptive and maladaptive ways faith is employed during times of stress.

Construct

The IRCS measures the overarching construct of Religious Coping, defined as the utilization of religious beliefs and behaviors to understand and deal with life stressors. The scale operationalizes this construct through five specific sub-constructs derived from factor analysis, reflecting the multifaceted nature of religious responses to adversity. These factors include specific religious behaviors (Religious Practice), cognitive reframing (Benevolent Reappraisal), behavioral responses (Active and Passive Coping), and emotional reactions (Negative Feelings toward God).

This approach moves beyond simple unidimensional measures, acknowledging that coping is a dynamic process involving interaction between personal behavior, cognitive interpretation of suffering, and emotional relationship with the divine. The inclusion of items adapted from the existing RCOPE scale (as indicated by the asterisk items) alongside newly generated, culturally specific items strengthens the scale’s theoretical foundation while ensuring cultural relevance.

Validity

The validity of the IRCS was established through its rigorous development process, which focused on ensuring high construct validity relevant to the target population. The initial development involved generating items based on theological literature and clinical interviews with Iranian individuals, ensuring high face and content validity. The resulting five-factor structure, confirmed through Factor Analysis, provides strong evidence for the scale’s ability to measure distinct coping dimensions hypothesized within the Islamic context, such as the differentiation between active effort coupled with reliance on God, versus purely passive resignation.

Reliability

The reliability of the Iranian Religious Coping Scale was assessed using internal consistency measures, specifically Cronbach’s Alpha, demonstrating strong to acceptable reliability across all derived subscales. The reliability coefficients are as follows:

• Religious Practice: Alpha = .89 (Indicating high internal consistency).
• Negative Feelings toward God: Alpha = .79 (Indicating acceptable internal consistency).
• Benevolent Reappraisal: Alpha = .79 (Indicating acceptable internal consistency).
• Passive Coping: Alpha = .72 (Indicating acceptable internal consistency).
• Active Coping: Alpha = .79 (Indicating acceptable internal consistency).

These values suggest that the items within each factor are consistently measuring their respective underlying constructs, making the IRCS a reliable tool for research applications in the Iranian context.

Factor Analysis

The initial development of the IRCS utilized Factor Analysis to determine the underlying dimensional structure of religious coping among Iranian participants. This analysis yielded a robust five-factor solution, which organizes the 22 items into distinct coping strategies:

• Religious Practice (Items 2, 7, 11, 14, 17, 20): Focuses on specific devotional behaviors such as reading the Qur’an, seeking guidance through prayer, remembrance of God, appealing to Prophet and Imams, and attending pilgrimage.
• Benevolent Reappraisal (Items 1, 6, 13, 16, 18, 22): Involves cognitively reframing stressful situations as a trial from God, accepting the situation as God’s will, or viewing suffering as a means of purification or strengthening faith.
• Active Coping (Items 5, 10, 15): Measures proactive efforts combined with spiritual reliance, where the individual takes responsibility for their actions before turning the ultimate outcome over to God.
• Negative Feelings toward God (Items 3, 8, 12, 21): Captures feelings of disappointment, anger, or abandonment directed toward the divine during distress.
• Passive Coping (Items 4, 9, 19): Describes strategies characterized by resignation or fatalism, involving minimal personal effort and simply expecting God to solve problems without intervention.

Instrument

Test Type: Psychometric Self-Report Scale

Format: 22 items, typically administered via a Likert-style response format (though the exact response format is not specified in the initial summary).

Language Available: Persian (Farsi)

Population Group: Iranian Muslim Adults

Age Group: Adults (Specific range not detailed in the source content)

Population Details: Developed and validated using samples from the Iranian population, ensuring cultural and religious sensitivity to Shi’a Islamic contexts.

Test Methodology: Quantitative assessment utilizing standardized items derived from clinical and theological insights, subjected to rigorous psychometric evaluation including Factor Analysis and reliability testing.

Keywords

Religious psychology, stress management, coping mechanisms, psychometrics, Iran, Islamic studies, Religious Coping, scale development, RCOPE.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source content.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source content.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Iranian Religious Coping Scale was initially developed and published in 2011. As an academic research instrument, it is generally available for non-commercial research purposes, though specific permissions should be sought from the primary authors or the publishing journal, Journal of Muslim Mental Health. The original PDF outlining the scale’s development and items can be accessed via the following link: Initial Development of the Iranian Religious Coping Scale (PDF).

Reference’s

Aflakseir, A., Colman, P.G. (2011). “Initial Development of the Iranian Religious Coping Scale”. Journal of Muslim Mental Health, 6(1); 44-61.

Items of the Iranian Religious Coping Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. Saw my situation as God’s will.*
2. Sought comfort and guidance by reading the Qur’an.
3. Realized that God cannot answer all of my prayers.*
4. Didn’t do much‚ just expected God to solve my problems for me.*
5. Did everything I could‚ then I asked God to sort out it Himself.*
6. Sought patience because God is with those who patiently persevere.
7. Appealed to Prophet and Imams.
8. Felt God had forgotten me (Wondered if God really cares).*
9. Was destined to have this situation‚ so I didn’t try to change it.
10. Turned the situation over to God after doing all that I could.*
11. Sought tranquility by remembrance of God.
12. I was disappointed with God’s grace and mercy.
13. Viewed my situation as a trial from God.
14. Read certain prayers.
15. Did what I could and turned the rest over to God.*
16. Thought suffering may bring me closer to God.*
17. Sought help with prayer.
18. My suffering was purification of my sins.
19. Didn’t try to do much; just assumed God would handle it.*
20. Attended pilgrimage when I felt upset.
21. I expressed anger at God for letting this problem happened.*
22. Suffering and difficulties strengthened my faith.*

*Note: Items marked with an asterisk (*) indicate overlap or adaptation from the original RCOPE scale.