Table 9 Items for assessing coping strategies of support recipients and sources of support

Seeking support

… I tell/told someone what happened

… I let/had someone help me

… I let/had myself be comforted by someone

… I tell/told someone how I felt about it

… I ask/asked someone to help me with the problem

Problem-focused coping

… I try/tried to do better next time

… I start/started tackling the problem

… I choose/chose a way to solve the problem

… I think/thought about how to solve the problem

… I try/tried hard so it does/did not happen again

… I change/changed something so that things run better

Palliative emotion regulation

… I rest/rested

… I recover/recovered to gather new strength

… I treat/treated myself to a break for the time being

… I make/made myself comfortable for the time being

… I try/tried to do something to relax

… I do/did something I can/could really enjoy