ABSTRACT
This study was designed to modify the recently developed “Fear of COVID-19” scale (FCV-19S) as a diagnostic criterion and to evaluate its psychometric properties and potential to predict risk of psychological problems. Through an e-questionnaire, data for this study were collected from 1,317 university students from 49 universities in Bangladesh. The modified “Fear of COVID-19” scale (MFCV-19S) showed good internal consistency (ω =.867) and concurrent validity;there was significant association with anxiety and depression. The unidimensionality was confirmed by an acceptable average variance extracted (0.49) and construct reliability (.87). The MFCV-19S differentiates fairly between persons with and without anxiety disorder, using an optimized cut score of ≥ 8 (93% sensitivity and 78% specificity). The multivariate analysis also suggested that MFCV-19S can significantly predict risk of mental health problems. The results indicated that the MFCV-19S is an efficient and valid psychometric tool for screening fear of COVID-19 among students and could be used for general people © Copyright: The Author(s). All articles are licensed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>)