ABSTRACT
Background: Healthcare professionals are at high risk of developing physical and mental health outcomes due to the coronavirus. Purpose: The study aimed to investigate coronaphobia levels in healthcare professionals and explore the relationship between other related factors in Turkey. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study included 422 participants. Sociodemographic characteristics such as age and gender;and features about working details of the participants including the history of Covid-19 were recorded. The Covid-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S), The Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Jenkins Sleep Scale (JSS), and International Physical Activity Questionnaire–Short Form (IPAQ-SF) were used to measure outcomes. Results: It was found that the total mean score obtained from the C19P-S of the doctors, physiotherapists, nurse-midwives, and other health professionals in the study were 46.31 ± 14.64, 50.55 ± 15.69, 54.82 ± 19.82, and 54.38 ± 17.81, respectively. A comparison of the C19P-S results showed that there is a significant difference between health professionals (p < 0.05). Doctors' physical activity levels were statistically related to their coronaphobia levels. Similarly, the coronaphobia levels of physiotherapists, nurses, and midwives were found to have a statistically significant relationship with their fatigue levels. Conclusion: It was found that healthcare professionals in Turkey have moderate coronaphobia levels and it affected some quality of life parameters such as sleep quality, fatigue severity, and physical activity status. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
ABSTRACT
Background and objective: Different languages and versions of the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S) have been developed and tested in several countries. Chinese college students are a large vulnerable group and are susceptible to psychological problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, no studies had yet examined the reliability and validity of the C19P-S in China among college students group. This study aims to evaluate the COVID-19-related phobia of Chinese college students and examine the reliability and validity of this scale. Methods: A total of 1689 Chinese college students participated in this study from April 27 to May 7, 2022. They finished the online questionnaire including demographic information and C19P-S. Cronbach's alpha and split-half reliability were used to examine the internal consistency of the scale. Confirmatory factor analysis was further used to examine the scale's construct validity. Convergence validity was also confirmed. Results: This scale in Chinese had high reliability and validity. The Cronbach's alpha and split-half reliability of the total scale were 0.960 and 0.935, respectively. The construct validity-related indicators of the total scale met the standards (RMSEA = 0.064, IFI = 0.907, TLI = 0.906, and CFI = 0.907). Regarding the subscales, the composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) also met the cutoff values (CR > 0.7 and AVE >0.5). Comparison between gender groups showed that total and subscale scores between male and female students differed significantly. Conclusion: The Chinese version of the C19P-S was appropriate for evaluating phobic symptoms among Chinese college students. Therefore, this tool could be used to evaluate the mental health of college students in the future.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: During various infectious pandemics, phobia or panic has been suggested as one of the most common mental disorders. The current study reports on the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S) in Iran. METHODS: The forward-backward translation procedure was applied to translate the English version of the C19P-S into Persian. Then, content and face validity, structural validity (exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses), convergent and discriminant validity, concurrent validity, reliability, and stability were performed to evaluate the Persian version. RESULTS: In all, 660 people participated in the study. The mean age of patients was 35.55 (SD = 12.24) years. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed a four-factor structure for the scale. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that almost all fitness indices for the model were satisfactory (RMSEA = 0.06, CFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.96, IFI = 0.97). The Cronbach's alpha coefficient and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the questionnaire were 0.95 and 0.96, respectively. CONCLUSION: The Persian version of C19P-S showed good psychometric properties and a good fit for the four-factor structure. It can now be used to assess panic disorder in therapeutic settings and identify candidates needing clinical intervention.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Phobic Disorders , Humans , Adult , Psychometrics/methods , Reproducibility of Results , COVID-19/diagnosis , Translating , Phobic Disorders/diagnosis , Surveys and Questionnaires , IranABSTRACT
Researchers predict that the negative effects of the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic will continue . These negative effects are not solely limited to psycho-pathological problems. Serious physiological, social, and economical difficulties due to COVID-19 have already been observed in various nations. In this study, we suggest a new type of specific phobia, which may be categorized under DSM-V 300.29. The current study developed a self-report instrument whose items address the specific phobia diagnosis criteria of the DSM-V and tested its initial psychometric properties. Results show that the scale has initial evidence of construct, convergent, and discriminant validity, and internal consistency reliability. The scale should be further tested; however, the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S) items provide support for assessing the levels of phobia reactions among a wide range of age groups.