COPE-NVI-25: validazione italiana della versione ridotta della Coping Orientation to the Problems Experienced (COPE-NVI).

The purpose of the present work is the validation of a short version (25 item) of the COPE-NVI, which is a tool widely used in Italy for the measurement of the styles of coping. The instrument was administered to 824 adult participants living in several provinces of Italy, who were divided between two groups: people who have had a myocardial infarction (N = 371) and people who have not, and did not have, serious health problems (N = 453).The confirmatory factor analysis shows that the factor structure of the COPE-NVI-25 is comparable to that of the original instrument and that the measured dimensions have a good construct validity as well as a good reliability. The multi-group analysis also highlights that the scale is metrically invariant between the two samples considered. The analysis of the differences in mean scores between people with myocardial infarction and people without serious health problems shows a good discriminant validity of the scale. In sum, the COPE-NVI-25 proves to be an instrument equally valid, but easier to administer, than the original instrument. By virtue of its reduced length, the COPE-NVI-25 can be easily administered even to people who have serious health problems.