Ways of Religious Coping Scale – WORCS
Measures the specific behaviors and strategies individuals use to cope with stressful situations through religion.
Scale Development & Technical Details
Scale Overview
The Ways of Religious Coping Scale – WORCS was developed by Boudreaux, E., Catz, S., Ryan, L., & Amaral-Melendez, M. (1995). It is designed to measure Religious Coping. The scale is intended for use with Adults.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 40 items organized into 2 factors/subscales: Internal/private, External/social.
| Factor / Subscale | Items | N |
|---|---|---|
| Internal/private | 1,5,12,14,15,16,24,28,31,32,33,34,35,37,38 | 15 |
| External/social | 7,8,17,20,25,26,29,30,36,40 | 10 |
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 0 = not at all/does not apply, 1 = sometimes, 2 = often, 3 = very often, 4 = always.
The scale includes 4 reverse-scored items to reduce acquiescence bias.
Scoring
Items are scored by subscale, with each subscale sum representing a distinct dimension.
Total scores range from 0 to 160. Interpretation guidelines:
- Low use of religious coping: 0 – 40
- Moderate use of religious coping: 41 – 80
- High use of religious coping: 81 – 120
- Very high use of religious coping: 121 – 160
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.