[References for evaluation scales in quality assurance in rehabilitation--6. Assessment of coping processes with the Freiburg Questionnaire of Illness Coping].

Advantages of coping assessment for the understanding of individual impacts of severe illness are pointed out, the benefit for a better understanding of the rehabilitation process is demonstrated. After the basic positions and preliminary assumptions are described, the guidelines of the development of the inventory are introduced: Assessment of a broad spectrum of coping with chronic diseases with ratings by the patient himself and by others (doctors, relatives), suitability for process measuring, good acceptance, and economical application. Statistical properties of the questionnaires are reported with respect to achieved acceptance, reliability, and validity data. Using selected results as examples, possible applications in psychosomatic research are pointed out for issues such as illness-specific components of coping with chronic diseases, discrepancies between patients' and doctors' views of coping, and adaptational success. Finally, possibilities and limits of the inventory are discussed in terms of research issues and methodology.