Psychosocial programs designed for cancer patients often facilitate the search for meaning as one of the therapeutic components. This study aimed to develop a self-report instrument, namely Chinese Cancer Coherence Scale (CCCS), which measures the patients' meaning-making process with reference to the concept of coherence. A panel of eight veteran social workers and psychologists generated statements pertaining to the cancer experience. Results from a two-phase study involving 390 breast cancer patients revealed a two-factor structure of the CCCS, namely incoherent-embittered and coherent-enlightened. The use of the CCCS by practitioners and researchers is recommended in order to understand how Chinese cancer patients make sense of their cancer experience.
Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.