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COVID-19 has had a serious negative impact on the mental health of people around the world. The present study analyses the psychometric properties of Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) in the Indian context. The study checks the one-factor and two-factor structures of the measure. Data were collected from 992 respondents from India. Structural equation modeling was performed to check the construct validity after checking the factorial validity, reliability, and model fit. Both one-factor and two-factor models had good psychometric properties. FCV-19S had significant relationships with stress and wellbeing. This study can serve as a reference to practitioners and researchers to understand and analyze fear of COVID among individuals and thus to support the mental health wellbeing during the pandemic.
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AIM: The aim of this study was to validate a job satisfaction scale among acute care nurses in the context of Qatar. DESIGN: Cross-sectional correlational survey. METHODS: A convenience sampling technique was used to recruit 295 acute care nurses between June 2021-September 2021. Exploratory factor analysis followed by confirmatory factor analysis was used for item reduction and convergent and discriminant validity evaluation. Pearson's correlations were conducted to evaluate the concurrent and convergent validity of the revised scale. Reliability was tested using several internal consistency indicators. RESULTS: A revised scale was proposed, the Acute Care Nurses Job Satisfaction Scale-Revised (ACNJSS-R) scale; it is composed of 13 items loaded on five factors. The composite reliability and the maximal reliability were >.7 for all factors. The study provides empirical support for the validity and reliability of the ACNJSS-R scale.
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Background: The Pandemic of COVID-19 has put healthcare workers under significant psychological pressure. This aimed to analyze the cognitive and somatic components of anxiety among healthcare workers using the State-Trait Inventory for Cognitive and Somatic Assessment Scale (STICSA) before and during the pandemic. In this observational study, 300 healthcare workers were analyzed using the STICSA questionnaire. Various demographic data like age, gender, marital status, educational background, sleep duration was collected. The somatic and cognitive dysfunction score were compared using an independent sample T-test between gender, duration of sleep, etc. Somatic and cognitive dysfunction severity was compared with demographic and pandemic-related parameters using the Chi square test. Result(s): Among 300 participants, the majority (83%, n=249) were below 29 years of age, 159(53%) were females. In respect to duration of sleep during the pandemic, the total score was 40.85 +/- 13.3 in participants sleeping less than 7 hours and 35.83 +/- 11.7 among participants sleeping more than7 hrs. This difference in total score and duration of sleep between the groups was statistically significant (P value 0.001). The mean total score of somatic and cognitive dysfunction before the pandemic was 34.88 +/- 11.527, and it was 38.03 +/- 12.655 during the pandemic. The difference in scores before the pandemic and during the pandemic was statistically significant (P value <0.001). Conclusion(s): This study gives enough evidence that anxiety levels have increased and duration of sleep has decreased among health care workers during this pandemic, with cognitive dysfunction being more profound than somatic dysfunction.. Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.
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(Portuguese) O esgotamento emocional academico e o primeiro estagio da Sindrome de Burnout Academico, sendo necessario avalia-lo e intervir precocemente, pois as consequencias sao significativas para as pessoas. O objetivo desta pesquisa e realizar uma analise psicometrica da Escala de Cansaco Emocional (Escala de Cansancio Emocional, ECE) para avaliar sua estrutura interna, invariancia de medida e confiabilidade da consistencia interna, em uma amostra de estudantes universitarios equatorianos no contexto da pandemia COVID-19. Participaram 453 estudantes universitarios do Equador (76,21 % mulheres) entre 17 e 35 anos (M = 22,76 anos). Os resultados mostram que a estrutura unidimensional possui suporte estatistico, e invariavel em relacao ao sexo e apresenta adequada confiabilidade de consistencia interna. Conclui-se que a ECE possui propriedades psicometricas adequadas que permitem seu uso em estudantes universitarios equatorianos. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Spanish) El agotamiento emocional academico es la primera etapa del sindrome de burnout academico, y es necesario evaluarlo e intervenir temprano ya que las consecuencias son significativas para las personas. El objetivo de esta investigacion es realizar un analisis psicometrico de la Escala de Cansancio Emocional (ECE) para evaluar su estructura interna, invariancia de medida y confiabilidad de consistencia interna, en una muestra de estudiantes universitarios ecuatorianos en el contexto de la pandemia COVID-19. Participaron 453 estudiantes universitarios de Ecuador (76.21 % mujeres) de entre 17 y 35 anos (M = 22.76 anos). Los resultados muestran que la estructura unidimensional tiene soporte estadistico, es invariante en cuanto al sexo y muestra una adecuada confiabilidad de consistencia interna. Se concluye que la ECE tiene propiedades psicometricas adecuadas que permiten su uso en estudiantes universitarios ecuatorianos. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
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This research-track work-in-progress paper contributes to engineering education by documenting progress in developing a new standard Engineering Computational Thinking Diagnostic to measure engineering student success in five factors of computational thinking. Over the past year, results from an initial validation attempt were used to refine diagnostic questions. A second statistical validation attempt was then completed in Spring 2021 with 191 student participants at three universities. Statistics show that all diagnostic questions had statistically significant factor loadings onto one general computational thinking factor that incorporates the five original factors of (a) ion, (b) Algorithmic Thinking, (c) Decomposition, (d) Data Representation and Organization, and (e) Impact of Computing. This result was unexpected as our goal was a diagnostic that could discriminate among the five factors. A small population size caused by the virtual delivery of courses during the COVID-19 pandemic may be the explanation and a third round of validation in Fall 2021 is expected to result in a larger population given the return to face-to-face instruction. When statistical validation is completed, the diagnostic will help institutions identify students with strong entry level skills in computational thinking as well as students that require academic support. The diagnostic will inform curriculum design by demonstrating which factors are more accessible to engineering students and which factors need more time and focus in the classroom. The long-term impact of a successfully validated computational thinking diagnostic will be introductory engineering courses that better serve engineering students coming from many backgrounds. This can increase student self-efficacy, improve student retention, and improve student enculturation into the engineering profession. Currently, the diagnostic identifies general computational thinking skill
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Workplace safety is critical for advancing patient safety and eliminating harm to both the healthcare workforce and patients. The purpose of this study was to develop and test survey items that can be used in conjunction with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Surveys on Patient Safety Culture™ (SOPS®) Hospital Survey to assess how the organizational culture in hospitals supports workplace safety for providers and staff. After conducting a literature review and background interviews with workplace safety experts, we identified key areas of workplace safety culture (workplace hazards, moving/transferring/lifting patients, workplace aggression, supervisor/management support for workplace safety, workplace safety reporting, and work stress/burnout) and drafted survey items to assess these areas. Survey items were cognitively tested and pilot tested with the SOPS Hospital Survey 2.0 among providers and staff in 28 U.S. hospitals. We conducted psychometric analysis on data from 6684 respondents. Confirmatory factor analysis results (item factor loadings and model fit indices), internal consistency reliability, and site-level reliability were acceptable for the 16 survey items grouped into 6 composite measures. Most composite measures were significantly correlated with each other and with the overall rating on workplace safety, demonstrating conceptual convergence among survey measures. Hospitals and researchers can use the Workplace Safety Supplemental items to assess the dimensions of organizational culture that support provider and staff safety and to identify both strengths and areas for improvement.
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Patient Safety , Workplace , Hospitals , Humans , Organizational Culture , Pilot Projects , Psychometrics , Reproducibility of Results , Safety Management , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Despite the widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States, many that have chosen not to be vaccinated have done so because of vaccine hesitancy. This highlights the need for tools that accurately capture the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs towards COVID-19 vaccines, and provide steps toward improving vaccine acceptance. METHODS: Participants of the Arizona CoVHORT (COVID-19 Cohort) received a one-time, electronic based cross-sectional questionnaire intended to capture underlying motivations regarding vaccination, as well as hesitations that may prevent people from getting vaccinated. Rasch analysis was conducted among 4703 CoVHORT participants who had completed the vaccine questionnaire to assess questionnaire reliability and validity. Response categories were grouped to optimize scale functioning and to ensure independent probabilities of participant endorsement. RESULTS: A total of 4703 CoVHORT participants completed the questionnaire, of whom 68% were female, and who had a mean age of 48 years. Participants were primarily White (90%), highly educated (63% with a college degree or above, with most respondents (45%) having an income of more than $75,000 per annum. The results indicated the questionnaire has good reliability and construct validity for assessing attitudes and beliefs about the COVID-19 vaccines. In-fit mean-squares for included items ranged from 0.61 to 1.72 and outfit mean-squares ranged from 0.56 to 1.75, and correlation coefficients ranged from 0.25 to 0.75. The person-item map indicated normal distribution of logit scores measuring perceptions about COVID-19 vaccinations. CONCLUSIONS: The CoVHORT vaccine questionnaire demonstrated satisfactory reliability and construct validity in assessing attitudes and beliefs about COVID-19 vaccines. Overall results provide a starting point for a reliable and valid tool to assess knowledge and perceptions about COVID-19 vaccination, ultimately providing public health professionals with an instrument to assess the factors that are associated with vaccine acceptance or hesitancy.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has created an ongoing global crisis. The unprecedented shock has been particularly devastating for tourism-based cities and has tested their resilience. This study addresses the mitigating role of urban resilience in the interplay between acute crises and the phenomenon of urban outmigration. Leveraging a unique dataset collected during the first national lockdown that followed the outbreak of COVID-19 in the city of Eilat (Israel)-a geographically isolated single economic sector-based city with no feasible options to commute-we offer here a new conceptual framework and an empirical framework for measuring perceived resilience. Using validated psychometric questionnaires and employing the nested hierarchical modeling approach, we estimate the impact of perceived resilience on the decision to migrate from the city. We find that even though Eilat has all the attributes to experience significant out-migration, its residents are not inclined towards migration due to its prior investment in resilience measures, which strengthened the local community and created a unique credo shared by its residents. These findings call for policymakers to focus on long-term resilience schemes directed at increasing the appeal that cities have for their residents and ensuring their endurance in times of extreme hardship.
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Contribution: This article is centered on effects that the COVID-19 lockdown has produced on the student performance in specific engineering course. The study treats to evaluate if the changes in the teaching and student assessment have been suited. Background: Most of higher education courses have had to adapt to this situation and made quick changes in its teaching and evaluation. The course applied computing was not the exception and has to split into two blocks. Teaching and evaluation of the first block was given totally in-person with traditional methodology. On the other hand, the second block that was affected by the lockdown, was fully taught with online flipped classroom (FC) teaching and remote assessment. Research Questions: This has given the opportunity to analyze how these changes have affected the student performance and what benefits of incorporated online FC teaching have been produced in this course. Methodology: The reliability of tests and item analysis techniques have been employed to measure the consistency and the item difficulty of the performed tests, respectively. From this psychometric study, the quality of the methodology of student assessment can be established. The study is also applied to the previous year where the in-person traditional methodology was employed. Moreover, the effectiveness of the teaching methodology is analyzed with student surveys. Findings: The reliability of online student assessment for FC teaching is high, yet when compared with traditional assessment for this specific course in both analyzed years. The different level of item difficulty is constant in the first block, being a possible cause for the low reliability of the test. Moreover, student surveys and student performance suggest that the online FC teaching method can be suitable for this specific course, and can be applied in the future.
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COVID-19 has become one of the significant sources of stress, fear, and anxiety throughout the world. Though the global effect on the psychological health of university settings is still unclear, the effect is highly significant (Lima et al., 2020). Therefore, assessing students' anxiety regarding this pandemic is the need of the hour. The Fear of COVID-19 scale developed by Ahorsu et al. (2020) is a unidimensional scale with seven items that assess the intensity of fear of COVID-19. Given the rapid increase of COVID-19 cases and fear of uncertainty among college students in India, we aim to analyze the psychometric properties and validate this scale in the Indian context. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among college students (n= 572). In confirmatory factor analysis, the loadings ranged between .54 and .78. To further validate this, we have performed item response theory analysis. The unidimensional IRT estimates shown in Table 5 reveals that item difficulties ranged between -.33 and 1.28. The item characteristics curve for the COVID-19 scale is given at the end of the results section.