Psychometric Properties of the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) in a Sample of Health Care Workers in Oman

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND Despite its wide usage among healthcare workers (HCWs), Depression Anxiety Stress Scales 21 (DASS-21) has received scant attention in terms of its psychometric properties among HCWs. The present study examined the factor structure of DASS-21 among representative HCWs in Muscat Region, Oman. The related aim is to examine factorial invariance across samples of males and females. METHODS Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to evaluate the latent structure of DASS-21. Factorial invariance between males and females was examined. The Cronbach alpha coefficients of DASS-21 were calculated to assess the internal consistency of the scale. RESULTS The CFA of the DASS-21 indicated that the three-factor solution best fits the data. The results also showed that DASS21 had overall good-to-excellent reliability. Multigroup analysis did not indicate gender differences. LIMITATIONS The present research study was limited as the accrued sample was drawn from HCWs working in the urban area, the Muscat region. As the study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, this has the potential to constitute potential confounder to hamper the generalization of the present study. CONCLUSIONS The results supported the applicability of DASS-21 across cultures and sex. The present data provide initial support for the psychometric properties of Arabic DASS among HCWs.