Ways of Religious Coping Scale (WORCS)

Abstract

The Ways of Religious Coping Scale (WORCS) is a 40-item, self-report psychological instrument developed in 1995 by Boudreaux, Catz, Ryan, and Amaral-Melendez. Its primary function is to quantify the frequency and manner in which individuals utilize specific religious behaviors and beliefs when responding to stressful situations. Unlike measures focused on general religious orientation, the WORCS assesses actionable coping strategies, classifying them into two empirically derived dimensions: Internal/Private Coping and External/Social Coping. This structure provides a nuanced framework for understanding the functional integration of faith into the Religious Coping process, offering researchers and practitioners valuable insight into stress management mechanisms.

Keywords

Religious Coping, Stress Management, Psychological Assessment, Spirituality, Internal Coping, Social Support, Psychometrics, Scale Development, Behavioral Coping, Faith, Stress Response.

Authors

Boudreaux, E., Catz, S., Ryan, L., Amaral-Melendez, M.

Purpose

The central purpose of the WORCS is to provide a quantitative, behavioral assessment of religious responses to significant life stressors. It moves beyond generalized measures of religious commitment to specify the actual cognitive and behavioral mechanisms employed by the individual. The scale defines a stressful situation broadly, encompassing any event that is difficult, troubling, or requires considerable effort, thereby ensuring applicability across various forms of psychological strain.

By focusing on behavioral engagement—ranging from private spiritual practices (e.g., prayer, solitary meditation) to reliance on communal support (e.g., clergy consultation)—the WORCS offers a practical tool for researchers studying the relationship between specific religious practices and mental health outcomes, particularly in clinical or student populations experiencing elevated levels of distress.

Construct

The WORCS measures the multidimensional psychological construct of Religious Coping—the intentional application of religious beliefs, behaviors, or resources to manage or mitigate the negative impact of life stressors. The scale is specifically designed to delineate between two primary, empirically supported coping styles:

• Internal/Private Coping: This factor captures solitary, personal spiritual practices and internal cognitive processes. Examples include praying for strength, seeking forgiveness, confessing to God, finding peace through private religious reflection, or looking for a lesson from God in the situation.
• External/Social Coping: This factor represents the utilization of institutional and communal religious resources. This involves seeking support from church members, talking to religious leaders, attending religious support groups, engaging in religious organizational activities, or seeking help from clergy.

This two-factor structure is crucial, as it allows for the analysis of whether an individual’s faith-based coping mechanism is primarily self-directed and private, or community-dependent and social.

Validity

Initial validation studies conducted by the developers (Boudreaux et al., 1995) established the fundamental psychometric properties of the WORCS. Evidence for construct validity confirms that the 40 items reliably map onto the intended two-factor structure: Internal/Private Coping and External/Social Coping. This structural integrity is central to the scale’s utility for measuring distinct coping strategies.

Furthermore, supporting research often establishes convergent validity by demonstrating appropriate positive correlations between WORCS scores and measures of related constructs, such as spiritual well-being, resilience, and positive coping styles. Conversely, discriminant validity is confirmed when WORCS scores show suitable divergence from unrelated constructs, such as general neuroticism or non-religious, maladaptive coping strategies.

Reliability

The reliability of the Ways of Religious Coping Scale is primarily demonstrated through high measures of Internal Consistency. The original authors reported strong internal consistency, confirming that items within each subscale measure a unified dimension of religious coping.

Subsequent academic applications of the WORCS have consistently confirmed this reliability, frequently reporting Cronbach’s alpha coefficients often exceeding the standard threshold of .80 for both the Internal/Private and External/Social subscales. This high degree of internal consistency suggests that the scale is robust and reliable for use in diverse research settings involving populations experiencing psychological stress.

Factor Analysis

The foundational development of the WORCS relied heavily on factor analytic techniques to empirically determine the scale’s underlying structure. These analyses confirmed that religious coping behaviors do not constitute a single, monolithic construct but rather cluster into two distinct, yet potentially correlated, factors.

The resulting two-factor solution effectively separates behaviors focused on private devotion, reflection, or direct communication with God (Internal/Private) from those behaviors that necessitate engagement with religious institutions, leaders, or community members (External/Social). This factor differentiation provides researchers with a powerful tool to analyze subtle differences in coping mechanisms and to predict differential mental health outcomes based on coping style preference.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-Report Questionnaire

Format: 40 items rated on a 5-point Likert Scale.

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: General population, frequently employed with clinical, undergraduate, or other samples facing moderate to high levels of stress.

Age Group: Adolescents and Adults (typically 18+)

Population Details: While the scale’s item content is predominantly aligned with Christian denominations (e.g., references to Jesus, Bible, Holy Spirit), it is designed to be broadly applicable, though adaptation may be required for use in non-Christian religious traditions.

Test Methodology: Respondents indicate the frequency of each listed religious coping behavior using the following categories:

1. 0. not at all/does not apply
2. 1. sometimes
3. 2. often
4. 3. very often
5. 4. always

Keywords

Psychological Measurement, Faith, Spirituality, Stress Response, Behavioral Coping, Internal Consistency, Scale Validation, Religious Coping Strategy, Communal Support.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A

Correspondence Address: N/A

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Ways of Religious Coping Scale (WORCS) was initially developed and published in 1995 in the journal Assessment. The instrument is widely cited and utilized in non-commercial academic and health research, suggesting a general level of accessibility.

Specific information regarding licensing fees, formal permissions for commercial use, or updated contact details should be sought directly from the primary authors (Boudreaux, Catz, Ryan, and Amaral-Melendez) or the publisher of the journal Assessment.

Reference’s

The original validation study is cited below. The original PDF of a version of this scale is available here: http://www.brandyancoffee.net/uploads/4/6/1/4/4614962/religious_coping_scale.pdf. An additional PDF of the scale is available from UCLA: http://chipts.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/01/Ways-of-Religious-Coping-Scale-_WORCS_.pdf.

• Boudreaux, E., Catz, S., Ryan, L., & Amaral-Melendez, M. (1995). The Ways of Religious Coping Scale: Reliability, validity, and scale development. Assessment, 2(3), 233-244.

• Kulkarni, Monique Shah. (2012). Initial Development and Validation of the Assessment of Beliefs and Behaviors in Coping (ABC). Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin. The WORCS instrument is found on pages 128-129 of this dissertation, available online at: http://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/ETD-UT-2012-08-6020

Items of the Ways of Religious Coping Scale (WORCS)

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

Read each statement and indicate how often you engage in the following behaviors when in a stressful situation. Indicate your answer by circling the number. Please respond to every item.

USE THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

• 0. not at all/does not apply
• 1. sometimes
• 2. often
• 3. very often
• 4. always

1. I say prayers.	0 1 2 3 4
2. I read scriptures.	0 1 2 3 4
3. I attend a religious support group.	0 1 2 3 4
4. I allow the holy spirit to direct my actions.	0 1 2 3 4
5. I confess to God.	0 1 2 3 4
6. I do not pray. R	0 1 2 3 4
7. I get support from church members.	0 1 2 3 4
8. I talk to church leaders.	0 1 2 3 4
9. I look for a lesson from God in the situation.	0 1 2 3 4
10. I try to be less sinful	0 1 2 3 4
11. I pray to God for inspiration.	0 1 2 3 4
12. I try to make up for my mistakes.	0 1 2 3 4
13. I put my problems in God’s hands.	0 1 2 3 4
14. I pray for strength.	0 1 2 3 4
15. I talk to church members.	0 1 2 3 4
16. I count my blessings.	0 1 2 3 4
17. I talk to my minister/ preacher	0 1 2 3 4
18. I recall a Scripture.	0 1 2 3 4
19. I stop going to religious services. R	0 1 2 3 4
20. I get help from clergy.	0 1 2 3 4
21. I use a Bible story to help solve a problem.	0 1 2 3 4
22. I pray for the help of a religious figure.	0 1 2 3 4
23. I solve problems without God’s help. R	0 1 2 3 4
24. I ask for God’s forgiveness.	0 1 2 3 4
25. I donate time to a religious cause.	0 1 2 3 4
26. I ask my religious leader for advice.	0 1 2 3 4
27. I share my religious beliefs with others	0 1 2 3 4
28. I think about Jesus as my friend.	0 1 2 3 4
29. I get involved with church activities.	0 1 2 3 4
30. I give money to a religious organization.	0 1 2 3 4
31. I base life decisions on my religious beliefs.	0 1 2 3 4
32. I find peace by going to a religious place.	0 1 2 3 4
33. I ask someone to pray for me.	0 1 2 3 4
34. I ask for a blessing.	0 1 2 3 4
35. I pray for help.	0 1 2 3 4
36. I go to a religious counselor.	0 1 2 3 4
37. I work with God to solve problems.	0 1 2 3 4
38. I find peace sharing problems with God.	0 1 2 3 4
39. I stop reading Scripture. R	0 1 2 3 4
40. I recite a psalm.	0 1 2 3 4

ASSESS YOUR SCORE & STYLE OF RELIGIOUS COPING

When scoring, reverse Items with an “R”; in other words, a score of 3 = 1; a score of 4 = 0 (and vice versa for 1=3 and 0=4).

Add up your score and see if your ways of coping are external (social) or internal (privately):

1. Internal/private – items 1, 5, 12, 14, 15, 16, 24, 28, 31-35, 37, and 38
2. External/social – items 7, 8, 17, 20, 25, 26, 29, 30, 36, and 40