COPE 6

Informal Caregivers may perceive caring for a loved one as a burden, but they may also see personal benefits in their role. Scales have been developed to measure both aspects of home care (see “Burden Scale for Family Caregivers” and “Benefits of Being a Caregiver Scale”). Informal care ensures the care of a person in need at home. Yet it often presents a major challenge requiring the use of coping strategies. Therefore understanding which coping strategies are employed in individual cases is often crucial for the course of home care. The COPE 6 was developed for this purpose.

The COPE 6 is a self-report questionnaire designed to assess functional and dysfunctional coping strategies. The instrument was validated in a sample of informal caregivers.

In research projects, it is useful to identify the coping strategies employed by informal caregivers. Based on these information, measures can be developed in a more targeted manner to reduce the stress experienced by informal caregivers. Here you can find articles that use the COPE 6 in their research.

The COPE 6 was validated in 2026 by Lauer and colleagues. The results of this validation study can be found here.

The COPE 6 is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 6 items related to coping strategies. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale (4 = Strongly agree, 3 = agree, 2 = partly agree, 1 = disagree, 0 = strongly disagree). There are two subscales: functional coping strategies (items 1, 3, 5, 6) and dysfunctional coping strategies (items 2, 4).

The final version of the COPE 6 includes the following items:

1. I´ve been concentrating my efforts on doing something about the situation I´m in.
2. I´ve been using alcohol or other drugs to make myself feel better.
3. I´ve been getting emotional support from others.
4. I´ve been giving up trying to deal with it.
5. I´ve been getting comfort and understanding from someone.
6. I´ve been trying to get advice or help from other people about what to do.

The COPE 6 can be downloaded here.

Evaluation and Interpretation:

Four items assess functional coping strategies (items 1, 3, 5, 6), while two items (items 2 and 4) assess dysfunctional coping strategies. The scores are calculated separately for each subscale.

(1) Item Scoring: Each item is rated on a 5-point scale

(2) Score Calculation: Four items describe functional coping strategies, while two items measure dysfunctional coping strategies. The total score is calculated for each subscale.

(3) Interpretation of the Score: The total score for the subscale “Functional Coping Strategies” ranges from 0 to 16 points. The total score for the subscale “Dysfunctional Coping Strategies” ranges from 0 to 8 points. Higher scores indicate more frequent use of the use of coping strategies (functional or dysfunctional). 

Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: a theoretically based approach. Journal of personality and social psychology, 56(2), 267.

Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (2012). Attention and self-regulation: A control-theory approach to human behavior. Springer Science & Business Media.

Lauer, N., Graessel, E., Hinkl, P., Rohleder, N., & Pendergrass, A. (2026). Coping strategies in challenging situations among informal caregivers: validation of the newly developed six-item German short version of the Brief COPE Inventory (COPE 6). BMC psychology.

Lazarus, R. S. (1966). Psychological stress and the coping process.

Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping (Vol. 445). Springer.

You can register to download the scales here.

! Those responsible for this website guarantee that all information provided during registration will be treated confidentially, in particular that it will not be passed on to third parties.

Downloading is permitted for non-commercial use only, which means specifically that

1. the respondent completing the self-assessment tool incurs no immediate (direct) costs (billing as a health insurance benefit by third parties, e.g., doctors, is possible) and
2. the COPE 6 is not resold to third parties in any form as part of a combined survey tool consisting of several survey instruments (e.g., as part of a larger, fee-based assessment tool).