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Help your clients recognize or bolster their coping resources

M. Susan Marting & Allen L. Hammer

• About the CRI
• Uses
• Scales
• Sample items

The Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) measures five basic ways people handle stress. For counselors, the CRI can help your clients recognize or bolster their coping resources, which in turn can help them minimize the impact of change and stress in their lives. For researchers, this is an efficient and valid measure of coping.

The CRI may be administered to individuals or to groups and is appropriate for a wide range of ages. The instrument has been administered to people fourteen to eighty-three years of age. The inventory can normally be completed in about ten minutes.

The Coping Resources Inventory can be used

• in treatment planning for stress-related problems of individuals in counseling
• in treatment planning for specific rehabilitation programs such as those for cardiac patients
• as a tool for designing stress workshops tailored for specific groups
• as a tool for identifying individuals who might be at-risk, in need of counseling, or in need of medical intervention
• as a tool for program evaluation
• as an educational planning and assessment device in high school health classes
• as a research instrument to investigate coping resources in various populations and to provide a standardized measure in coping research

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The Coping Resources Inventory Scales
Cognitive (COG) “I feel as worthwhile as anyone else”	The extent to which individuals maintain a positive sense of self-worth, a positive outlook toward others, and optimism about life in general. The role of a positive self-concept in adaptation to stress is well documented (e.g., see Pearlin & Schooler, 1978).
Social (SOC) “I am part of a group, other than my family, that cares about me”	The degree to which individuals are imbedded in social networks that are able to provide support in times of stress.
Emotional (EMO) “I can cry when sad”	The degree to which individuals are able to accept and express a range of affect, based on the premise that a range of emotional response aids in ameliorating long-term negative consequences of stress.
Spiritual/Philosophical (S/P) “I know what is important in life”	The degree to which actions of individuals are guided by stable and consistent values derived from religious, familial, or cultural tradition or from personal philosophy. Such values might serve to define the meaning of potentially stressful events and to prescribe strategies for responding effectively. The content domain for this scale is broader than traditional western religious definitions of spirituality.
Physical (PHY) “I exercise vigorously 3-4 times a week”	The degree to which individuals enact health-promoting behaviors believed to contribute to increased physical well-being. Physical well-being is thought to decrease the level of negative response to stress and to enable faster recovery. It may also help to attenuate potentially chronic stress-illness cycles resulting from negative physical responses to stressors that themselves become major stressors.

Coping Resources Inventory Sample

Directions: For each of the sixty statements that follow, mark an X on the separate answer sheet for the response that best describes you in the last six months. For each statement mark one of the following descriptions:

N	S	O	A
Never or Rarely	Sometimes	Often	Always or almost always

1.	I have plenty of energy	N	S	O	A
2.	I say what I need or want without making excuses or dropping hints	N	S	O	A
3.	I like myself	N	S	O	A
4.	I am comfortable with the number of friends I have	N	S	O	A

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FROM THE CRI

"One of the goals in developing the CRI was to provide a tool for identifying resources currently available to individuals for managing stress. Clinical theory and practice largely focus on what is wrong with people rather than on what is right with them.

The CRI was constructed to facilitate an emphasis on resources rather than deficits. Identifying and acknowledging clients’ resources and competencies as well as their deficits and impairments may prove useful in designing interventions and in improving self-concept. Increased knowledge of resources and their role in the coping process may also help in the design of prevention programs.

If certain competencies or resources are known to be related to differential adjustment, interventions can be designed that will attempt to increase resources in at-risk populations. Conversely, if exposure to certain life events is related to negative outcomes such as physical illness or increases in psychological symptoms, and particular resources can attenuate these outcomes, then prevention programs could be developed to take this into account."

--M. Susan Marting & Allen L. Hammer, Coping Resources Inventory Manual

RELATED PRODUCTS

Health & Daily Living Form

Rudolf Moos

Ways of Coping

Folkman & Lazarus

Hassles & Uplifts

Lazarus & Folkman

State-Trait Anxiety Inventory

Charles D. Spielberger

REFERENCES

From the Journal of Clinical Psychology 49:6 (1993), 815-30: "The coping resources inventory for stress: a measure of perceived resourcefulness."

From Psychological Reports 90:1 (2002) 270-72: "Sex, perception of immediate stress, and response to coping resources inventory, emotional domain"

Allen Hammer's email address:

855 Oak Grove Avenue, Suite 215, Menlo Park, CA 94025 U.S.A.
Phone (650) 322-6300   Fax (650) 322-6398

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