Construct Validity of Posttraumatic Growth Inventory in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Research that examines the construct validity of Posttraumatic Growth Inventory in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic has never been conducted. This study aimed to test the construct validity of Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) on the five dimensions to see the consistency of the PTGI dimensionality structure. Data collection was carried out on 135 COVID-19 survivors, aged 18–40 in Indonesia. Analysis was carried out by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and measurement invariance (MI). The results of the analysis proved that PTGI is a measuring instrument that tends to be multidimensional and reliable to be used in Indonesia. All model fit indices met the parameters based on the values of SRMR (<.06), RMSEA (<.10), CFI (>.85), and TLI (>.85). Factor loadings ranged from 0.616 to 0.839 except for item 6 and item 9, which were below 0.6. These low loading factors in item 6 and item 9 were caused by the choice of translated words which tend to be less precise with the dimension being measured. Recommendations related to changes in translated words were explained further in the article as a follow-up to the adjustment of the item statement. Other factors such as personality characteristics, level of self-esteem, and social stigma were also found to be associated with the results of the analysis. MI testing showed that the PTGI model was not influenced by gender in the study sample group. © 2023, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta. All rights reserved.

Does the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale Measure Coronaphobia the Same Way for Mourners With and Without Dysfunctional Grief?

Deaths from COVID-19 have exceeded 6.5 million people globally. Although many people are mourning the loss of loved ones to this deadly disease, little is known about the validity of measuring coronavirus-related anxiety with this particular group of people. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine if the coronavirus anxiety scale (CAS) measures the coronaphobia construct the same way for mourners with and without dysfunctional levels of grief. The results indicated that the four-item version of the CAS has acceptable fit indices and is partially invariant between people with dysfunctional and non-dysfunctional grief. Moreover, the CAS demonstrated adequate criterion validity and reliability with this group of bereaved adults. In conclusion, the CAS can be used to measure anxiety due to COVID-19 in people who are going through dysfunctional and non-dysfunctional grieving processes. © The Author(s) 2023.

Psychometric properties and measurement invariance of a European Portuguese version of the fear of COVID-19 scale

The novelty and uncertainty of the pandemic nourished a gener-alized fear of the COVID-19, which seems to have exacerbated the pan-demic's negative impact. It is thus relevant to monitor fear of COVID-19 and its association with individuals' mental health, well-being, and behav-iors. Valid and reliable measures of fear of COVID-19 are necessary for that purpose. This study aimed at assessing the psychometric properties of a European Portuguese version of the Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S-P). A secondary aim was to assess FCV-19S-P's multigroup measurement invariance (female vs. male). A sample of 572 Portuguese adults (72 % fe-male) completed the FCV-19S-P and measures of depression, anxiety, and stress. The study results supported this version validity and reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .84;Composite Reliability = .83), and a factorial struc-ture similar to the original version. Fear of COVID-19 was positively asso-ciated (.23 < r < .31) with depression, anxiety, and stress. Results of the multigroup invariance analysis supported the FCV-19S-P total scalar invar-iance and its partial residual invariance, suggesting that this measure may be used to reach valid conclusions in respect to gender comparisons in samples of Portuguese adults in regard to group observed composite means. © 2023, Universidad de Murcia Servicio de Publicaciones. All rights reserved.

When COVID-19 strikes mental health: a measurement analysis of reassurance seeking behavior scale in Peruvian population.

Background: The long-lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be overstated. To combat its dire consequences, some screening measures have been hastily developed and require robust verification to explore their adequacy across different groups. The present research study aimed to analyze measurement invariance by sociodemographic characteristics of the Coronavirus Reassurance Seeking Behavior Scale (CRSB) in Peruvian adults. Methods: A total of 661 participants completed The Coronavirus Reassurance Seeking Behavior Scale (CRSB), the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS), and sociodemographic information a subgroup filled in the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Reliability and measurement invariance across sociodemographic characteristics were analyzed. Likewise, associations with depression and dysfunctional coronavirus anxiety were examined. Results: Results showed that the single factor structure of the CRSB with correlated errors fitted the data adequately and the instrument was invariant across gender, age, and loss of a significant relative to COVID-19. In addition, significant associations with depressive symptoms and dysfunctional anxiety were found. Conclusion: The findings of the present study suggest that the Coronavirus Reassurance Seeking Behaviors Scale is invariant across different sociodemographic characteristics.

Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Spanish Burnout Inventory Among Professionals Across 17 Countries and Regions.

Studies on the prevalence of burnout in professionals in service organizations who work in direct contact with the clients or users of the organization have concluded that burnout is a serious health disorder that has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A significant advantage of the Spanish Burnout Inventory (SBI) over other instruments is that it provides a broader conceptualization of burnout by including feelings of guilt as a dimension of burnout to explain its development. However, the measurement invariance of the SBI across countries has not been investigated. The purpose of this study was to test the measurement invariance of the SBI among professionals across 17 countries and regions in Europe, Latin America, and Asia, and in different languages. All the countries showed a good fit to the four-factor model, except the Indian sample, which was excluded from the measurement invariance study. Using the alignment method, it was possible to verify the scalar measurement invariance of the four SBI factors across 15 countries and one Spanish region (16 samples). The comparison of estimated latent means indicates that France is the country with the lowest scores on the Enthusiasm factor and the highest scores on the negative factors (Exhaustion, Indolence, and Guilt). In contrast, the Andean countries, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, show the highest latent means on the Enthusiasm factor and the lowest means on the negative factors. These results support the validity of the SBI in the countries and regions in Europe and Latin America included in this study.

Vaccine Conspiracy Beliefs Scale: Validation and Measurement Invariance in a Youth Sample.

The Vaccine Conspiracy Beliefs Scale (VCBS) is a widely used measure of conspiracy beliefs about vaccines, but evidence of its validity and measurement invariance, especially in youth samples, is still largely missing. The present study examined VCBS scores' factor structure, measurement invariance, convergent and discriminant validity, and incremental predictive validity. A sample of 803 Serbian youths (age range 15-24; 59.2% females) was recruited for the study. A modified single-factor model of the VCBS was supported, and showed evidence of full scalar invariance across gender, age, vaccination status, and personal history of COVID-19. Evidence of the VCBS scores' convergent and discriminant validity was obtained by examining associations with general conspiracy beliefs, vaccination attitudes, vaccination knowledge, intentions to get vaccinated against COVID-19, paranoia worries, fear of injections and blood draws, importance of God, self-rated health, and self-rated family's financial situation. The VCBS scores predicted a unique variance in the intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19, over and above vaccination attitudes and vaccination knowledge. The results suggest that the VCBS is a valid measure of vaccine conspiracy beliefs in youth.

iGen or shyGen? Generational Differences in Shyness.

Generation Z (1997-2012) has been characterized in the popular media as more socially inhibited, cautious, and risk averse than prior generations, but are these differences found between generations on an empirical level? And, if so, are these differences observable within generations in response to acute events such as the COVID-19 pandemic? Using a simplified time-lagged design to control for age effects, we examined between-group differences in self-reported shyness in young adult participants (N = 806, age: 17-25 years) at the same developmental age and university from the millennial generation (tested: 1999-2001; n = 266, Mage = 19.67 years, 72.9% female) and Generation Z (tested: 2018-2020), the latter generation stratified into prepandemic (n = 263, M = 18.86 years, 82.4% female) and midpandemic (n = 277, Mage = 18.67 years, 79.6% female) groups. After first establishing measurement invariance to ensure trustworthy group comparisons, we found significantly higher mean levels of shyness across each successive cohort, starting with millennials, through Generation Z before the pandemic, to Generation Z during the pandemic.

Tracking Changes in the Endorsement of Injunctive Drinking Norms in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic Using Longitudinal Alignment Analysis.

The onset of the pandemic saw shifts in messaging around the acceptability of alcohol consumption at different times and contexts. A psychometric analysis of responses to injunctive norms may reveal important differences in specific aspects of norms that were influenced by the pandemic. Study 1 used alignment analysis to evaluate measurement invariance in low- and high-risk injunctive norms across samples of Midwestern college students from 2019 to 2021. Study 2 used an alignment-within-confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) approach to replicate the solution from Study 1 in an independent longitudinal sample (N = 1,148) who responded between 2019 and 2021. For Study 1, the latent mean for high-risk norms was significantly higher in 2021, and the endorsement of four specific norms also differed. In Study 2, increases in latent means for low- and high-risk norms were observed across 2020 and 2021, and differential endorsement emerged for one high-risk norm item. Examining scale-level changes in injunctive drinking norms provides insight into how college students' perceptions changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Development and Validation of the Chinese Family Resilience Scale in Families in Hong Kong.

Family resilience is an important protective factor mitigating the negative impact of adversities on individuals and families. As there are very few validated measures of family resilience in the Chinese context, we have developed the Chinese Family Resilience Scale (C-FRS) based on the family resilience framework of Froma Walsh. In this paper, we outline the development and the validation of the C-FRS with reference to the socio-cultural context of Hong Kong. Based on content validation involving family experts, the initial 51 items were assessed in terms of their relevance, clarity, and representativeness. The results showed that these items possessed adequate content validity. In order to validate the 51-item measure, we examined its convergent validity, its factorial validity, and its internal consistency based on the responses of 1020 Chinese families (N = 2858 participants). After removing the items with unsatisfactory psychometric properties, we retained 35 items in the final scale. The results showed that the C-FRS scores were significantly related to family functioning, thus providing support for its convergent validity. This study also provided support for the conceptual model of Walsh (i.e., three high-order domains involving nine primary indicators). Most importantly, the measurement invariance tests showed that the dimensions of the C-FRS were invariant among fathers, mothers, and adolescent children. As the findings support the reliability and the validity of the 35-item C-FRS, we suggest that this measure can be objectively used to assess family resilience in Chinese communities.

The Individual- and Organization-Related Stressors in Pandemic Scale for Healthcare Workers (IOSPS-HW): Development and Psychometric Properties of a New Instrument to Assess Individual and Organizational Stress Factors in Periods of Pandemics.

The validation and psychometric properties of the Individual and Organization related Stressors in Pandemic Scale for Healthcare Workers (IOSPS-HW) were presented. This is a new measure to assess individual factors related to the health and well-being of individuals, such as family and personal relationships, as well as organizational factors related to the management of the pandemic, including workplace relationships, job management and communication. Across two studies conducted at different time points of the pandemic, psychometric evidence of the IOSPS-HW is presented. In Study 1, through a cross-sectional design, we conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis through which the originally developed 43 items scale was reduced to a 20-item bidimensional scale with two correlated dimensions: Organization-related Stressors (O-S; 12 items) and Individual- and Health-related Stressors (IH-S; 8 items). Internal consistency and criterion validity were also provided by investigating the relationship with post-traumatic stress. In Study 2, we provided evidence for the temporal invariance of the measure and for temporal stability through a Multigroup-CFA through a longitudinal design. We also supported the criterion and predictive validity. The results suggest that IOSPS-HW is a good instrument to simultaneously investigating individual and organizational factors related to sanitary emergencies in healthcare workers.

The psychological future of unemployed individuals and workers: invariance measurement model and mean differences.

This study compared the psychological future of unemployed individuals and workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. It used the data from two previous data collections, one with unemployed individuals and another with workers. Participants from the two datasets were paired considering the same gender and similar age and education degree. The analyzed sample consisted of 352 participants, of which 176 were unemployed individuals and 176 were workers. The psychological future was measured by the Future Time Orientation Scale and the Life Project Scale. Both scales fit the sample of unemployed individuals and were invariant at the metric level across occupation status. Partial scalar model met good fit after freeing the intercepts of one item in each scale. In contrast to the hypothesis, compared to workers, unemployed individuals did not have lower rates in the assessed features of their psychological future. Conversely, for some variables, the rates were even higher among unemployed individuals. Unexpected results and limitations are discussed. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04565-6.

Cross-cultural equivalence of parental ratings of child difficulties during the pandemic: Findings from a six-site study.

OBJECTIVES: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has been shown to be invariant across informants, developmental stage and settings, but tests of cross-cultural equivalence are limited to adolescents' self-reports. The COVID-19 pandemic makes this gap particularly pertinent, given the need to understand whether distinct government approaches (e.g., school closures) are uniquely associated with variability in children's psychosocial outcomes and the reliance on parents' ratings for young children. METHODS: Within a Confirmatory Factor Analysis framework, we tested the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the SDQ across six countries: Australia, China, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom and USA, using a sample of 1761 parents of 3- to 8-year-olds (M = 5.76, SD = 1.09). RESULTS: A five-factors model showed good fit to the data and partial cross-cultural scalar invariance. In this sample, Swedish parents reported the fewest peer problems (Cohen's d = 0.950) and the highest prosocial scores (Cohen's d = 0.547), whilst British parents reported the greatest child emotional (Cohen's d = 0.412) and hyperactivity problems (Cohen's d = 0.535). CONCLUSIONS: The present results indicate that the parent-version of the SDQ is appropriate for use and comparison across different contexts during the pandemic.

Psychometric properties of the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 among Hong Kong young adults in 2021: Associations with meaning in life and suicidal ideation.

Background: Young adults in Hong Kong are subject to elevated psychological distress given the societal stressors such as civil unrest and COVID-19 pandemic and suicide is a leading cause of death among them. The present study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) as a brief measure of psychological distress and its associations with meaning in life and suicidal ideation (SI) in young adults. Materials and methods: A mobile survey recruited a large and random sample of 1,472 young adults (Mean age = 26.3 years, 51.8% males) in Hong Kong in 2021. The participants completed the PHQ-4 and Meaning in Life Questionnaire-short form (MLQ-SF) for presence of meaning in life (MIL), SI, COVID-19 impact, and exposure to suicide. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the factorial validity, reliability, and measurement invariance of PHQ-4 and MLQ-SF across gender, age, and distress subgroups. Multigroup structural equation model evaluated and compared the direct and indirect effects of latent MIL factor on SI via latent PHQ-4 factor across distress groups. Results: Both MIL and PHQ-4 supported a 1-factor model with good composite reliability (Ω = 0.80-0.86) and strong factor loadings (λ = 0.65-0.88). Both factors showed scalar invariance across gender, age, and distress groups. MIL showed significant and negative indirect effects (αß = -0.196, 95% CI = -0.254 to -0.144) on SI via PHQ-4. PHQ-4 showed a stronger mediating role between MIL and SI in the distress group (Δ = -0.146, 95% CI = -0.252 to -0.049) than the non-distress group. Higher MIL predicted higher likelihoods of help-seeking (Odds ratios = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.14-1.88). Conclusion: The present results support adequate psychometric properties in terms of factorial validity, reliability, convergent validity, and measurement invariance for the PHQ-4 in young adults in Hong Kong. The PHQ-4 demonstrated a substantial mediating role in the relationship between meaning in life and SI in the distress group. These findings support clinical relevance for using the PHQ-4 as a brief and valid measure of psychological distress in the Chinese context.

Is the meaning of subjective well-being similar in Latin American countries? A cross-cultural measurement invariance study of the WHO-5 well-being index during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: There is an urgent need to assess changes in well-being on a multinational scale during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus culturally valid scales must be available. METHODS: With this in mind, this study examined the invariance of the WHO well-being index (WHO-5) among a sample of 5183 people from 12 Latin Americans countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay). RESULTS: The results of the present study indicate that the WHO-5 is strictly invariant across samples from different Latin American countries. Furthermore, the results of the IRT analysis indicate that all items of the WHO-5 were highly discriminative and that the difficulty required to respond to each of the five items is ascending. Additionally, the results indicated the presence of moderate and small size differences in subjective well-being among most countries. CONCLUSION: The WHO-5 is useful for assessing subjective well-being in 12 Latin American countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, since the differences between scores can be attributed to differences in well-being and not in other characteristics of the scale.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for Dsm-5 (Pcl-5). Latent Structure Analysis and Measurement Invariance in a Sample of Italian Health Workers during the Covid-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a significant threat to health workers (HW) in terms of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and disorder (PTSD). Over the years, alternative PTSD structures have been proposed (DSM-5, Dysphoria, Dysphoric Arousal, Anhedonia, Externalizing Behaviors, Hybrid) and tested. To date, no studies have addressed this issue focusing on HW during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated the fit of alternative PTSD structures in two Italian samples: HW during the COVID-19 pandemic, and university students in a pre-pandemic context. A total of 580 HW and 451 students completed the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) assessing PTSS. Confirmatory factor analysis investigated the best PTSD structure in each sample;measurement invariance was also inspected. The Anhedonia structure performed best in both samples;this model showed configural, metric, variances and covariances invariance. Results pave the way to the use of the PCL-5 to tailor intervention supporting HW during the pandemic.

VQC-COVID-NET: Vector Quantization Contrastive Learning for Covid-19 Image Base Classification

Today, the COVID-19 epidemic has become extremely widespread. The first step in combating COVID-19 is identifying cases of infection. Real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction is the most common method for identifying COVID (RT-PCR). This method, however, has been compromised by a time-consuming, laborious, and complex manual process. In addition to the RT-PCR test, screening computed tomography scan (CT) or X-ray images may be used to identify positive COVID-19 results, which could aid in the detection of COVID-19. Because of the continuing increase in new infections, the development of automated techniques for COVID-19 detection utilizing CT images is in high demand. This will aid in clinical diagnosis and alleviate the arduous task of image interpretation. Aggregating instances from various medical systems is highly advantageous for enlarging datasets for the development of machine learning techniques and the acquisition of robust, generalizable models. This study proposes a novel method for addressing distinct feature normalization in latent space due to cross-site domain shift in order to accurately execute COVID-19 identification using heterogeneous datasets with distribution disagreement. We propose using vector quantization to enhance the domain invariance of semantic embeddings in order to enhance classification performance on each dataset. We use two large, publicly accessible COVID-19 diagnostic CT scan datasets to develop and validate our proposed model. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method routinely outperforms state-of-the-art techniques on testing datasets. Public access to the implementation of our proposed method is available at https://github.com/khaclinh/VQC-COVID-NET. © 2022 IEEE.

Psychometric Properties of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9) in a Sample of Active Health Care Professionals in Spain.

Purpose: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the working, personal and health conditions of health professionals has been highlighted, although it is necessary to verify whether certain instruments used in research on this topic have sufficient psychometric support for their use. This need was the main motivation for undertaking the present study. We aimed to analyse the psychometric properties of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9) in a sample of active health care workers during the pandemic. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from March to August 2020 with 2326 active health care workers (78.7% women). The instruments that were applied included the UWES-9 scale, the Sense of Coherence scale (SOC-13), the Goldberg General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and an item on self-perceived health. Results: The three-factor structure related to the correlation of pairs of errors presented the best fit. The reliability of the UWES-9 was highlighted by the adequate internal consistency of the items, the existence of invariance according to gender, and its convergent and discriminant validity. Conclusion: The findings of this work support the use of the UWES-9 to assess the work engagement of health personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify it as an adequate measure of this psychological variable and the constructs that comprise it.

Measurement invariance of the GAD-5 Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale in a Mexican general population sample.

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the measurement of invariance by sex, age, and educational level of an online version of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale in a five-item version (GAD-5). Configural, metric, scalar, and strict invariance were evaluated using data from 79,473 respondents who answered a mental health questionnaire during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. The sex variable was classified as male or female; age was categorized as minors, youth, young adults, adults, and older adults; and educational level was divided into basic, upper secondary, higher, and graduate education. To test for configural invariance, confirmatory factor models were constructed. For metric invariance, equality restrictions were established for the factor loadings between the construct and its items; for scalar invariance, equality restrictions were established between the intercepts; strict variance implied the additional restriction of the residuals. Statistical analysis was performed in R software with the lavaan package. The results show that with respect to sex, age, and educational level, configural and metric measurement invariance was confirmed (ΔCFI < 0.002; ΔRMSEA < 0.015). However, with respect to scalar and strict invariance, the results showed significant differences regarding the fit model (ΔCFI > 0.002; ΔRMSEA > 0.015). We conclude that the GAD-5 presents configural and metric invariance for sex, age, and educational level, and scalar invariance for sex and age groups. However, the scale does not demonstrate strict invariance. We discuss the implications and suggest that this result could be related to the evaluation of sociodemographic variables.

Investigating measurement invariance of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-8 (ERQ-8) across 29 countries.

The widely used Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) measures the habitual use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Recently, a more economical 8-item version of the ERQ was proposed that showed good model fit. We assessed whether the latent constructs of the ERQ-8 are generalizable across different countries and cultures. To this end, we used data from the COVIDiSTRESS survey and investigated measurement invariance of the ERQ-8 in a large sample that included 11,288 individuals from 29 countries with diverse cultural backgrounds. Our analyses revealed configural and metric invariance of the ERQ-8 in 14 countries. The results suggest that emotion regulation strategies may not readily converge across all cultures. This underscores the importance of testing measurement invariance before interpreting observed differences and similarities between countries. Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-04220-6.

Health-Related Cognitions and Metacognitions Indirectly Contribute to the Relationships Between Impulsivity, Fear of COVID-19, and Cyberchondria.

The aim of the study was to converge a structural equation model to unfold the compositive relationships between trait impulsivity, health cognitions, metacognitions about health, fear of COVID-19 and cyberchondria, after controlling for gender, age, marital status, having a chronic illness and chronic illness among first-degree relatives. Six hundred fifty-one participants (423 females, 65%; 228 males, 35%) participated in the study. The Short UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale (S-UPPS-P), Health Cognitions Questionnaire (HCQ), The Meta-Cognitions about Health Questionnaire (MCQ-HA), Cyberchondria Severity Scale -Short Form (CSS-12), and Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19 S) were completed by volunteered participants. The structural model showed that the S-UPPS-P directly and indirectly contributed to the HCQ, MCQ-HA, CSS-12, and FCV-19 S. The multi-group structural analysis by gender showed that the structural model had a partial measurement and factorial invariance. We concluded that the significant associations between impulsivity, fear of COVID-19 and cyberchondria were indirectly contributed by health-related cognitions and metacognitions.