The goal of this study was to investigate the factorial structure of the Brazilian version of the Ways of Coping Scale (Gimenes & Queiroz, 1997) that measures coping strategies people use when facing specific stressors. The sample of 409 male and female adults was divided into two groups: 252 reported one major stressor related to a real problem in their everyday activities and the other 157 reported and described the suffering of a chronic disease. A factor analysis with principal axis method and orthogonal rotation, extracted four factors: coping strategies based on the stressor, coping strategies based on the emotion, religiosity/fantasy thinking and search for social support. Comparisons between the two samples suggested different possibilities for the development of research and intervention in the clinical work aimed at the management of stress by different type of patients.
coping; stress; factorial structure
