Measuring anxiety and fear of Covid-19 among older people: psychometric properties of anxiety and fear of Covid-19 scale (AMICO) in Spain

Abstract

Background The elderly population has proven to be a particularly vulnerable group with regard to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to study the psychometric properties of the Ansiedad y MIedo a Covid-19 scale (AMICO) on a population-based sample of elderly people. Methods A descriptive and psychometric cross-sectional study, based on questionnaires, was carried out. An exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was performed, as well as a bivariate analysis between the different sociodemographic variables with respect to the total scale score. Results A sample of 720 adults over 65 years of age was obtained, 52.2% of whom were women. The structure of the factor of the scale showed two factors (fear and anxiety) and was confirmed with good fit parameters. The overall reliability of the scale in terms of internal consistency was α = 0.94. Conclusions The AMICO scale is a valid and reliable instrument to measure anxiety and fear of COVID-19 in the Spanish population over 65 years of age. Women and subjects with a partner showed the highest values of fear and anxiety.

Adaptation and psychometric study of the scale for the measurement of fear and anxiety of COVID-19 disease in pregnant women (AMICO_Pregnant)

“…The exploratory factor analysis showed the maintenance of a two-factor structure with two interrelated factors: fear and anxiety underlying the data and 16 items as a result of their high factor loadings. These results offered a structure consistent with previous two-factor studies obtained from a general population by Gomez-Salgado et al ( 52 ), which explained a total variance of 64.8%, or in the case of research involving a sample of older adult people, which showed a total variance of 66.6% ( 53 ). The results of the study showed a distribution that explained a total variance of 78.935%.…”

“…In this sense, this study provides the McDonald’s Omega coefficient (0.94) as an added reliability data, which is optimal and provides greater robustness to the reliability study of the AMICO_Pregnant instrument. Along these lines, both the study by Velez-Moron et al ( 53 ) in the validation of the AMICO scale in the older adult population and the one by Morgado-Toscano et al ( 56 ) in validating AMICO in the United Kingdom general population showed similar or slightly lower values for both Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients (0.94 and 0.96, respectively) and McDonald’s Omega coefficients (0.91 and 0.92, respectively), and very similar to the results reported by Gomez-Salgado et al ( 48 ) in the general Spanish population, which showed a Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient value of 0.92. The McDonald’s Omega coefficient was not calculated in the research by Gomez-Salgado et al ( 51 ), despite the modifications made to the wording during the design phase of the scale.…”

“…The reliability study gave a total Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.92 for factor 1 (Anxiety) and 0.90 for factor 2 (Fear). The AMICO scale has been validated with different population groups: theolder adult ( 53 ), nurses ( 54 ), adult general population ( 55 ), or the adult general population in United Kingdom ( 56 ). Eventually, the research team behind the design of the AMICO Scale established the following cut-off points: low level of fear and anxiety with a score from 0 to 4.31 points; intermediate level, from 4.32 to 6.4 points; and high level, with a score above 6.4 points ( 51 ).…”

Instrument development and psychometric testing in nursing education research

“…Recent research also demonstrated that, when applied to empirical data, McDonald's omega does not largely differ from Cronbach's alpha (Hayes and Coutts, 2020). An example in nursing seems to support this and it demonstrates the adoption of this measure in a scales' development and validation (Vélez-Morón et al, 2022). It is recommended to consider this reliability test along with Cronbach's alpha.…”

Assessment of Levels of Anxiety and Fear of Covid-19 in a Population of Pregnant Women in Spain

“…41 The reliability study gave a total Cronbach's α value of 0.92 for factor 1 (Anxiety) and of 0.90 for factor 2 (Fear). The AMICO scale has been validated in different population groups: the elderly, 42 nurses, 43 the general adult population, 44 or the general adult population in United Kingdom. 45 In this context, the scale for assessing fear and anxiety of COVID-19 in pregnant women (AMICO_Pregnant) was designed and validated in a previous study based on the Spanish version of the AMICO scale.…”