Results and Comments
The RCI has been shown to predict fewer depressive symptoms in hospitalized patients in both cross-sectional
and longitudinal studies ( Abernethy et al., 2002; Koenig et al., 1992 ), as well as lower use of health services
(Pearce et al., 2002 ). Several studies have used only the first one or two items of the RCI, eliminating the need for
an interviewer ( Krause, Ellison, Shaw, Marcum, & Boardman, 2001; Pearce et al., 2002 ).
RELIGIOUS COPING INDEX
1.‘How do you manage to cope with your situation? In
other words, how do you keep yourself from getting
depressed, sad, or discouraged, despite your current
situation?’
[score 10 if religious, 0 if not religious ]
2.‘Do your religious beliefs or activities help you
to cope with or handle your situation? Here is a
scale ranging from 0 to 10. On this scale, 0 indicates
that you do not use religion at all to cope and 10
indicates that religion is the most important thing
that keeps you going. Please mark on this scale
the extent to which you use religious belief or
activity to help you to cope with or handle your
situation.’
[subject marks on 0 to 10 visual analogue scale the
extent to which he/she uses religion to cope ]3.In the third item, the interviewer rates the subject’s
degree of religious coping based on a discussion with
the subject about how he or she uses religion to cope.
When was the last time religion was used to cope?
What exactly was done? How frequently is religion
used to cope in this way? All responses are recorded
verbatim.
[interviewer rates on a 0 to 10 scale the extent to which
the interviewer perceives that the subject uses religion
to cope ]
Scoring : Sum scores on three items; score range 0 /C030,
with higher scores indicating greater religious coping.
Note: No permission is required to use the RCI mea-
sure, although notification of the author is encouraged
(contact Harold Koenig at: Harold.Koenig@duke.edu ).
Religious Coping Scale (RCOPE)
(Pargament et al., 2000; Pargament et al., 1998 ).
Variable
Religious coping is assessed here by measuring specific ways that people use religion to cope, both positive
and negative ways, an approach developed by Pargament and colleagues (see Pargament et al., 1998 ).
Description
The RCOPE consists of three versions, and all have been used extensively in research examining religion and
health. The long version includes 100 items, a shorter version (Brief RCOPE) has 14 items, and the shortest ver-
sion has only six items. The long version consists of 17 subscales (3 to 10 items per subscale, each rated on a 0 /C03
scale), which examine RC methods to find meaning in the stressful situation, gain control, gain comfort and
closeness to God, gain intimacy with others, and achieve life transformation ( Pargament et al., 2000 ). The 14-item
Brief RCOPE consists of two 7-item subscales that assess positive RC and negative RC ( Pargament et al., 1998 ).
A 6-item short version contained within the Fetzer Institute (1999) MMRS consists of a 3-item positive and a
3-item negative RC subscale. Responses range from 1 ‘not at all’ to 4 ‘a great deal.’ Scores for positive and nega-
tive items are summed separately; for the 14-item brief RCOPE, scores range from 7 /C028 for each subscale.
Sample
The RCOPE scales were developed using a sample of college students in Ohio ( N5540, 69% female, 93%
Caucasian, 70% freshman, 45% Catholic and 41% Protestant) and medically ill hospitalized patients ( N5551,
48% female, mean age 58 years, 62% Caucasian, mostly Protestant and Baptist) in North Carolina ( Pargament
et al., 2000 ). At least one study ( N5305) has examined the psychometric properties of the RCOPE in adolescents
(Harris et al., 2008 ).539 SINGLE DIMENSIONAL SCALES
V. VICES AND VIRTUES