The development and validation of the partner coping self-efficacy scale

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to develop a scale which assesses self-efficacy of partners of drug and alcohol users and to determine the scale’s psychometric properties. The Partner Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (PCSES) was developed and in Study 1 the PCSES was administered to 83 partners of patients attending treatment. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability results were found to be promising for a new scale. The PCSES was subjected to factor analysis and the results suggested the presence of four clear factors. Evidence for the PCSES’s construct validity was obtained from strong relationships between the PCSES and coping style and self-reported depression and anxiety in partners. The results from Study 1 failed to provide evidence for the PCSES’s predictive validity in that PCSES scores were unable to predict relapse in patients following treatment. In order to determine whether the factor structure of the PCSES could be replicated the PCSES was administered to a separate sample of 183 partners of drug and alcohol users who were recruited from the internet in Study 2. The same four factor structure obtained in Study 1 was also confirmed in this second sample of partners. Overall the results from both studies, despite being preliminary, suggest that the PCSES has acceptable psychometric properties with a stable and clear factor structure. Although the psychometric properties of the PCSES were verified in two different samples using two different modes of scale administration future research is necessary to examine the PCSES’s psychometric properties further. It is expected that the PCSES will greatly assist clinicians when treating partners of drug and alcohol patients given the absence of a similar validated scale in the literature.