Objective: To examine the reliability of a brief instrument to assess coping with symptoms by patients with psychotic illness.
Method: A semi-structured interview (MACS) was developed to assess the amounts of distress, control and coping in relation to psychotic symptoms. Two raters interviewed 23 symptomatic but stable patients with a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia on two separate occasions. Case managers were also interviewed.
Results: Both the number of coping strategies used for different groups of symptoms, and the amount of coping used in different domains of coping strategies could be assessed reliably between interviewers (intraclass correlation coefficients range: 0.90-0.97) and between interview sessions (ICCs range: 0.75-0.80). Reliability with case managers, however, was low.
Conclusion: The MACS may be a reliable and useful instrument to assess coping in relation to subjective experience of distress by and control over psychotic symptoms.