Scale Overview
The Coping Health Inventory for Parents – CHIP was developed by Hamilton I. McCubbin, Marilyn A. McCubbin, Robert S. Nevin, Elizabeth Cauble (1983). It is designed to measure Parental coping with childhood chronic illness. The scale is intended for use with Parents of children with chronic illnesses or medical conditions.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 45 items organized into 3 factors/subscales: Family integration, cooperation, and optimism, Maintaining social support, self-esteem, and psychological stability, Understanding the health care situation through communication.
| Factor / Subscale |
Items |
N |
| Family integration, cooperation, and optimism |
1,3,6,8,11,13,16,18,21,23,26,28,31,36,38,41,43,44,45 |
19 |
| Maintaining social support, self-esteem, and psychological stability |
2,4,7,9,12,14,17,19,22,24,27,29,32,33,34,37,39,42 |
18 |
| Understanding the health care situation through communication |
5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40 |
8 |
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 0 = Not helpful, 1 = Minimally helpful, 2 = Moderately helpful, 3 = Extremely helpful.
Scoring
Items are scored by subscale, with each subscale sum representing a distinct dimension.
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.79 (Subscale I), 0.79 (Subscale II), 0.71 (Subscale III).
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.