The Dyadic Communicative Resilience Scale (DCRS): scale development, reliability, and validity

Abstract

Purpose: There has yet to be a quantitative measurement of communicative resilience processes as outlined in the Communicative Theory of Resilience (CTR). This study aims to determine the structure, reliability, and validity of the Dyadic Communicative Resilience Scale (DCRS) in cancer patients and partners. Method: The DCRS was administered to 584 participants, including 312 cancer patients and 272 partners of cancer patients along with the common coping subscale of the dyadic coping inventory, the cancer-related communication problems with couples scale, and the resilience promoting scale. Results: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed nine dimensions of dyadic communicative resilience within the five resilience processes outlined in the CTR. Structure reliability was shown with Cronbach’s alphas between.77 and.88 and good to excellent model fit for the nine factors. Convergent and discriminant validities were demonstrated by significant Pearson correlations with relevant, established coping/resilience measures. Conclusions: The DCRS has a clear nine factor structure and demonstrates good reliability. The measure has good convergent and discriminate validity indicating its utility in future research examining resilience in cancer populations.