ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for contemporary society, generating fear. We aimed to validate a fear scale to identify and assess the severity of fear related to SARS-CoV-2. METHOD(S): This was a cross-sectional study conducted through an online survey and applied to the general Brazilian population. Participants were randomly recruited via social networking platforms during the pandemic (N.=1332). A self-reported fear scale (SARS-CoV-2 Fear Scale [SCoV-2-FS]) comprising 11 questions addressing the fear of contracting SARS-CoV-2 infection during essential daily activities was validated. RESULT(S): The reliability and validity of the SCoV-2-FS were psychometrically evaluated using reliability measures and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Cronbach's alpha was 0.9, indicating excellent internal reliability. CONCLUSION(S): The results of the CFA showed that the unidimensional factor structure of the SCoV-2-FS fitted well with the data. The SCoV-2-FS is a valid and reliable tool with robust psychometric properties and is thus useful for assessing fear associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Copyright © 2022 Authors. All rights reserved.