How to cope with disabilities: Development and psychometric properties of the Coping With Disability Difficulties Scale (CDDS).

Purpose/objective: The aim of this study was to develop and test the psychometric properties of the Coping With Disability Difficulties Scale (CDDS), a scale to measure the coping strategies used by people with disabilities to face the disability-related difficulties (caused by both disability itself and by stigma) they encounter in their daily lives.

Method/design: An initial pool of 110 items was developed based on previous literature and the results of a qualitative study using semistructured interviews. The psychometric characteristics of the CDDS were examined in 3 samples of people with disabilities (each of which included participants with physical, visual, and hearing impairments; total N = 590).