The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Development and Initial Validation
- PMID: 32226353
- PMCID: PMC7100496
- DOI: 10.1007/s11469-020-00270-8
The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Development and Initial Validation
Abstract
Background: The emergence of the COVID-19 and its consequences has led to fears, worries, and anxiety among individuals worldwide. The present study developed the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) to complement the clinical efforts in preventing the spread and treating of COVID-19 cases.
Methods: The sample comprised 717 Iranian participants. The items of the FCV-19S were constructed based on extensive review of existing scales on fears, expert evaluations, and participant interviews. Several psychometric tests were conducted to ascertain its reliability and validity properties.
Results: After panel review and corrected item-total correlation testing, seven items with acceptable corrected item-total correlation (0.47 to 0.56) were retained and further confirmed by significant and strong factor loadings (0.66 to 0.74). Also, other properties evaluated using both classical test theory and Rasch model were satisfactory on the seven-item scale. More specifically, reliability values such as internal consistency (α = .82) and test-retest reliability (ICC = .72) were acceptable. Concurrent validity was supported by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (with depression, r = 0.425 and anxiety, r = 0.511) and the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Scale (with perceived infectability, r = 0.483 and germ aversion, r = 0.459).
Conclusion: The Fear of COVID-19 Scale, a seven-item scale, has robust psychometric properties. It is reliable and valid in assessing fear of COVID-19 among the general population and will also be useful in allaying COVID-19 fears among individuals.
Keywords: COVID-19; Fear; Fear of COVID-19 Scale; Iran; Psychometrics.
© The Author(s) 2020.
Conflict of interest statement
Conflict of InterestThe authors declare that they do not have any interests that could constitute a real, potential or apparent conflict of interest with respect to their involvement in the publication. The authors also declare that they do not have any financial or other relations (e.g., directorship, consultancy or speaker fee) with companies, trade associations, unions or groups (including civic associations and public interest groups) that may gain or lose financially from the results or conclusions in the study. Sources of funding are acknowledged.
Comment in
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Assessing the psychological response to the COVID-19: A response to Bitan et al. "Fear of COVID-19 scale: Psychometric characteristics, reliability and validity in the Israeli population".Psychiatry Res. 2020 Aug;290:113127. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113127. Epub 2020 May 27. Psychiatry Res. 2020. PMID: 32502825 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
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Associated factors for fear of COVID-19 scale in long-term care settings in Spain.Geriatr Nurs. 2024 Mar-Apr;56:167-172. doi: 10.1016/j.gerinurse.2024.02.009. Epub 2024 Feb 13. Geriatr Nurs. 2024. PMID: 38354659
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