Assessing coping skills in mental health nurses: is an occupation specific measure better than a generic coping skills scale?

The aim of the present study was to compare the reliability and validity of two separate measures of coping skills when used with mental health nurses. The study compared the PsychNurse Methods of Coping Scale, a measure developed specifically for this population, and the more generalisable coping skills subscale from Cooper’s Occupational Stress Indicator. Both measures were administered via a postal questionnaire along with the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and a demographic checklist. Questionnaires were returned by 175 nurses, a response rate of 25%. It was hypothesised that the PsychNurse Scale would be a more reliable and valid measure when applied to mental health nurses. This prediction was confirmed. Specifically the PsychNurse Scale had higher item total correlations, better inter factor correlations, higher internal consistency, and better predictive and item discriminative validity. Interestingly, community mental health nurses scored significantly higher on both coping scales than ward based mental health nurses. The PsychNurse Scale is more psychometrically robust than a generic coping skills scale when applied to mental health nurses.