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SocioCommunicative Orientation Scale (SCO)
Sociocommunicative orientation refers to an individual's perception of how assertive and responsive he/she is. This Socio-Communicative Orientation Scale (SCO) is designed to measures these orientations. Generally, these orientations are either totally uncorrelated or only marginally correlated (r < .30). These are two of the three components of the SCO construct. The third component is variously labeled as "versatility" or "flexibility." This third component is best measured by the "Cognitive Flexibility" scale.
Situational Communication Apprehension Measure (SCAM)
The Situational Communication Apprehension Measure (SCAM) was developed to provide and instrument which could measure state CA in any context. This is a self-report instrument which can apply to how a person felt in any recent communication event (the closer in time between the event and completion of this instrument, the more valid the measure will be).
Sources of Social Support Scale (SSSS)
This scale is part of the body of research on the effects of a multi-modal cognitive-behavioral stress management intervention on the psychosocial well-being of breast cancer patients. In the course of this work, several questions have arisen about social support. One question is whether different sources of support matter in different ways (e.g., partner, friends, health care providers). Another question is how different aspects of support differ. Indeed, there is a developing literature suggesting that negative support is more impactful than positive support. Neither of these questions...
COPE Inventory
The COPE Inventory is a multidimensional coping inventory to assess the different ways in which people respond to stress. Five scales (of four items each) measure conceptually distinct aspects of problem-focused coping (active coping, planning, suppression of competing activities, restraint coping, seeking of instrumental social support); five scales measure aspects of what might be viewed as emotion-focused coping (seeking of emotional social support, positive reinterpretation, acceptance, denial, turning to religion); and three scales measuring coping responses that arguably are less...
Brief COPE
The items of the Brief COPE are an abbreviated version of the COPE Inventory. It has been used in research with breast cancer patients, with a community sample recovering from Hurricane Andrew, and with other samples as well. The authors created the shorter item set partly because earlier patient samples became impatient at responding to the full instrument (both because of the length and redundancy of the full instrument and because of the overall time burden of the assessment protocol). In...
behavioral avoidance/inhibition (BIS/BAS) scales
Several theorists have argued that two general motivational systems underlie behavior. A behavioral approach system (BAS) is believed to regulate appetitive motives, in which the goal is to move toward something desired. A behavioral avoidance (or inhibition) system (BIS) is said to regulate aversive motives, in which the goal is to move away from something unpleasant. We developed the BIS/BAS scales to assess individual differences in the sensitivity of these systems. The BIS/BAS scales are available for research and teaching applications.
Measure of Body Apperception (MBA)
Body image is often thought of in terms of physical appearance, but there is also a body image pertaining to integrity, wholeness, and normal functioning. People who are greatly concerned about either aspect of their body image are vulnerable to poorer psychosocial adjustment when confronting treatment for breast cancer. The poorer adjustment takes a different form, however, depending on the nature of the patient's body-image concern . The Measure of Body Apperception (MBA) is a measure of the investment in, or dependence on, one's body image as a source of the sense of self-worth. It has...
Attitudes Toward Self (ATS)
The Attitudes Toward Self (ATS) Instrument measures three constructs: holding of overly high standards; the tendency to be self-critical at any failure to perform well; and the tendency to generalize from a single failure to the broader sense of self-worth. Very consistently, only generalization has uniquely related to depression (see Carver et al. 1988 reference below). Evidence that generalization is a prospective predictor of depression in interaction with adverse events has also been found. More recently, it has been found that generalization relates to depression but not mania,...
The Benefit Finding Scale for breast cancer
Cancer patients experience positive as well as adverse consequences from diagnosis and treatment . The Benefit Finding scale for breast cancer assesses the perception that positive contributions were made to one's life by the experience of being diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer. The original scale was developed by Vicki Helgeson at Carnegie Mellon University. The authors of the updated scale wrote a few additional items and distilled the set down a little by removing difficult and redundant items. In an intervention study, the items tended to form a single factor. In a later...
Measure of Current Status (MOCS)
The Measure of Current Status (MOCS) scale comes from research on the effects of a multi-modal cognitive-behavioral stress management intervention on the psychosocial well-being of breast cancer patients. An important question is whether the intervention's beneficial effects have several sources or one principle source. In order to probe for possible "active ingredients" behind the intervention’s effects, Carver developed a brief measure called the Measure of Current Status, or MOCS. The MOCS has two sections. Part A is items measuring participants' current self-perceived status on...
