Coping in the Danish general population: psychometric properties of the Danish version of the Brief Approach/Avoidance Coping Questionnaire

OBJECTIVE: To enable measurement of coping in the general Danish population the aims of this study are to 1) describe the translation and cultural adaption of the Danish Brief Approach/Avoidance Coping Questionnaire (BACQ) and 2) investigate the psychometric properties of the Danish BACQ.

DESIGN: The BACQ was translated and adapted into Danish, and the psychometric properties tested in two samples of adult Danish citizens: Sample A  = 167, used for exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and Sample B  = 330 persons, used for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Internal consistency was evaluated by Cronbach's Alpha, item-to-rest correlation, and scale-to-scale Pearson correlation.

RESULTS: The EFA suggested reasonable fits for both a three-factor and four-factor model, confirmed by the CFA with acceptable goodness-of-fit indices for both models. Using the four-factor-model would require a re-evaluation of the scale. The three-factor model had admissible internal consistency with an overall Cronbach's alpha of 0.66. Individuals with low self-rated health, extreme concern about current health and poor physical fitness, respectively, had lower Approach and higher Diversion and Resignation scores.

CONCLUSION: The psychometric properties showed that the Danish BACQ could be used as a three-factor model. With some limitations, the Danish version had acceptable construct validity, internal consistency, and content validity.