Scales For Self Help
- This section provides two scales that would allow an individual to test their levels of impostorism and their dyadic coping types and abilities. The first scale will provide a self-help scale that would aid in evaluating one’s levels of imposterism, while the other provides an inventory to aid with evaluating couples dyadic coping styles and abilities. Please remember that these are for evaluative purposes only and may be used to provide oneself, or their therapist, with guidance towards treatment.
The Clance Imposter Phenomenon Scale (CIPS; Clance & Imes, 1978) is a widely recognized tool developed by Dr. Pauline Clance and Dr. Suzanne Imes to assess levels of imposter syndrome in individuals. It was originally designed to help high-achieving individuals understand ad quantify their feelings of self-doubt and perceived fraudulence. The scale consists of statements that respondents rate according to their personal experience. With scores ranging from low to high (40 or fewer: few imposter characteristics, 41-60: moderate imposter feelings, 61-80: frequent imposter feelings, 80 or higher: intense imposter feelings) the CIPS helps identify the intensity of imposter syndrome, which can often manifest as chronic feelings of inadequacy, fear of failure, and a tendency to downplay accomplishments, despite evidence of success. This scale has proven useful in both clinical and research settings, providing insight into the inner struggles that can accompany professional and personal achievements. By identifying these thoughts and emotions, individuals and their therapists can work on building self-awareness, resilience, and ultimately, a more grounded and accurate sense of self-worth.
The Dyadic Coping Inventory
The DCI (Bodenmann, 2008) originated from an evolving view that stress and coping should not be thought about as an individual’s issues, rather as a process that is interpersonal and circular which involves both the individual’s appraisals as well as collective resources, goals, and appraisals (Wendolowska et al., 2020). By examining dyadic coping, we can see that taking our time to evaluate what is helpful and what is not in our relationships, can be invaluable. Please utilize the DCI, a 37-item measuring tool aimed to assess perceived communication and dyadic coping (supportive, delegated, negative, and joint) within close relationships when one or both involved are stressed. It will help to guide you figure out required changes that are necessary for positive change.
How to administer and score: The DCI can be self-administered or administered in an interview and generally takes between 10 and 15 minutes to complete. Items are scored on a 5-point scale from 1 (“very-rarely”) to 5 (“very-often”).You get the total DCI score by adding up items 1 through 35 after reverse coding negatively keyed items (7, 10, 11, 15, 22, 25, 26, and 27). Items 36 and 37 are evaluation items and not included in the total score. DCI total scores: Less than 111, dyadic coping is below average; between 111-145, dyadic coping in the normal range; over 145, dyadic coping is above average
Subscale scores are the sum of the included items:
- (a) Stress communicated by oneself (SCO: items 1,2,3, and 4)
- (b) Supportive dyadic coping by oneself (SDC:items 20, 21, 23, 24, and 29)
- (c) Delegated dyadic coping by oneself (DDCO: items 28, and 30)
- (d) Negative dyadic coping by oneself (NDCO:items 22, 25, 26, and 27)
- (e) Stress communication of the partner (SCP:items 16, 17, 18, and 19)
- (f) Supportive dyadic coping of the partner (SDCP: items 5, 6, 8, 9, and 13)
- (g) Delegated dyadic coping of the partner (DDCP: items 12 and 14)
- (h)Negative dyadic coping by partner (NDCP: items 7, 10 ,11 , and 15)
- (i) Common dyadic coping (CDC:items 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35)
- (j)Evaluation of dyadic coping (EDC: items 36 and 37)