The COVID-19 anxiety syndrome scale: Development and psychometric properties

Nikčević, Ana V.; Spada, Marcantonio M.

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113322

Cited by 148 publications

(250 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Indeed, all this could have a profound effect on mental health [10]. Both the restrictive measures adopted by governments and the spread of the virus itself were associated with lower levels of life satisfaction and wellbeing [11,12] and with higher levels of anxiety [13][14][15][16], depression [17], anger [18], fear, and worry [18][19][20], resulting in fertile ground for the development of distress and chronic psychological symptoms in some people [21]. In fact, previous research has consistently identified symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [14,[22][23][24][25], which could last beyond the course of the pandemic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Which personality traits can mitigate the impact of the pandemic? Assessment of the relationship between personality traits and traumatic events in the COVID-19 pandemic as mediated by defense mechanisms

et al. 2021

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The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant influence on the lives of people around the world and could be a risk factor for mental health diseases. This study aimed to explore the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by identifying patterns related to post-traumatic symptoms by considering personality and defensive styles. Specifically, it was hypothesized that neuroticism was negatively associated with impact of event, as opposed to extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness traits. The mediation role of mature, neurotic, and immature defenses in these relationships was also investigated. This study involved 557 Italian individuals (71.3% women, 28.7% men; Mage = 34.65, SD = 12.05), who completed an online survey including the Impact of Event Scale—Revised, Forty Item Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ-40) and Ten Item Personality Inventory. Results showed a nonsignificant effect for extraversion and openness on impact of event. The negative influence of neuroticism was instead confirmed in a partial parallel mediation involving significant effects from immature and neurotic defenses in the indirect path. Finally, agreeableness and conscientiousness delineated two protective pathways regarding impact of event, determining two total parallel mediation models in which both these personality traits were negatively associated with immature defensive styles, and conscientiousness was also positively related to mature defenses. These findings provide an exploration post-traumatic symptom patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic, involving the big five personality traits and defense mechanisms. These results may be useful for developing interventions, treatments, and prevention activities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Which personality traits can mitigate the impact of the pandemic? Assessment of the relationship between personality traits and traumatic events in the COVID-19 pandemic as mediated by defense mechanisms

et al. 2021

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“…Криза у области здравља проширила се и на друге домене функционисања човечанства. Ове промене су довеле и до високог нивоа стреса, повезаног са страхом, анксиозношћу и опаженом претњом (Nikčević & Spada, 2020). У нашој земљи формирани су кризни штабови, како на националном тако и на нивоу локалних заједница.…”

Section: уводunclassified

“…Када је реч о инструментима за процену психолошких аспеката суочавања са пандемијом ковида 19, међу првима је конструисана једнодимензионална Скала страха од ковида 19 (The Fear of COVID-19 Scale; Ahorsu, Lin, Imani, Saffari, Griffiths et al, 2020). Убрзо су Ли и сарадници (Lee, 2020a;Lee, 2020b;Lee, Jobe, Mathis, Gibbons, 2020;Lee, Mathis, Jobe, Pappalardo, 2020) развили Скалу анксиозности од коронавируса (Coronavirus Anxiety Scale -CAS), која се показала као валидан и користан инструмент за истраживања и практичан рад (Nikčević & Spada, 2020). Како би се сагледали шири аспекти анксиозности у време пандемије, недавно је развијена и Скала синдрома анксиозности према ковиду 19 (Nikčević & Spada, 2020).…”

Section: процена психолошких аспеката ковида 19unclassified

“…Убрзо су Ли и сарадници (Lee, 2020a;Lee, 2020b;Lee, Jobe, Mathis, Gibbons, 2020;Lee, Mathis, Jobe, Pappalardo, 2020) развили Скалу анксиозности од коронавируса (Coronavirus Anxiety Scale -CAS), која се показала као валидан и користан инструмент за истраживања и практичан рад (Nikčević & Spada, 2020). Како би се сагледали шири аспекти анксиозности у време пандемије, недавно је развијена и Скала синдрома анксиозности према ковиду 19 (Nikčević & Spada, 2020). Конвеј и сарадници (Conway III, Woodard, Zubrod, 2020) развили су Упитник опажене претње од коронавируса (The Perceived Coronavirus Threat Questionnaire -PCTQ), како би процењивали мисли у односу на могућу претњу и забринутост у погледу ковида 19.…”

Section: процена психолошких аспеката ковида 19unclassified

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Health beliefs about COVID-19: Instrument for assessment and expression of beliefs

Živković¹,

Stanojević²,

Radović³

2021

Zb Filoz fak Priština

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The main goal of this research was to construct a scale to assess health beliefs about COVID-19, in the light of the Health Beliefs Model (Rosenstock, 1966). The study included 420 subjects, mean age M = 31.65 years (SD = 12.72). Two-thirds (76%) of the respondents were female. The respondents filled in a set of questionnaires via the Internet. At the very beginning, the purpose and goal of the research were explained and the consent for participation in the research was obtained. The survey was anonymous, while the data were collected from April to September, 2020. The COVID-19 Health Belief Scale showed satisfactory psychometric characteristics. Factor analysis has shown that four main components can be distinguished, which correspond to the types of beliefs included in the Health Beliefs Model (Rosenstock, 1966). Thus, four subscales were obtained: Perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 (four items), Perceived severity of COVID-19 (four items), Perceived benefit of preventive behaviour (four items), and Observed barriers to preventive behaviour (three items). This scale structure corresponds to other similar scales (HBMS, Champion, 1984; AHBS, Zagumny & Brady, 1998), based on the Health Beliefs Model (Rosenstock, 1966). The obtained average values of scores on the observed susceptibility to COVID-19 show that our respondents do not consider themselves either extremely susceptible or protected from contracting this disease. On the other hand, it is obvious that our respondents do not consider COVID-19 to be a serious enough disease, despite daily warnings that the disease is unpredictable and its consequences are serious, long - term, and even more frequent than of other viral diseases. The observed barriers to preventive behaviour are relatively low, as are the scores on the subscale. The observed benefits of preventive behaviour range from the highest possible scores. When we summarize these results, we can conclude that our respondents apply preventive measures, because they are convinced that they are useful in preventing infection, and that obstacles to their implementation have not been observed to a significant extent. However, it remains unclear why this disease is not considered serious enough. One possibility is that the information placed in the media was initially ambiguous, ranging from describing COVID-19 as a common respiratory infection to a serious illness with severe consequences. We can look for another explanation within our sample. Namely, the age of our average respondent was 31, and as many as two thirds of the respondents were women. Initial information about COVID-19, placed through the media, was that this disease seriously affects older people and, for the most part, males. Women perceived significantly more benefits from preventive behaviour, and men significantly more barriers. Respondents' burden of a chronic disease proved to be significant for two subscales: Perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 and Observed barriers to the implementation of preventive behaviour. People suffering from a chronic disease believe that they are more susceptible to the COVID-19 infection, i.e. that they are more susceptible to this disease compared to those who do not have chronic diseases. However, people burdened with a chronic disease notice several obstacles to the implementation of preventive measures at the same time. When it comes to the higher observed susceptibility to COVID-19 in married people compared to those who are not, we can assume several factors that lead to this: reduced possibility of isolation, double possibility of infection, greater social interaction due to different needs, and the like. This research has its limitations. Most importantly, we could not thoroughly examine the validity of the instrument, due to the lack of similar scales. Another important limitation is that the sample was mostly made up of women. The third important limitation concerns the average age of the respondents; this study covered only a small number of the elderly, who are most at risk during this pandemic. Nevertheless, we believe that the timeliness and novelty of the constructed scale are sufficient to indicate the need to use it, at least as a first step in the development of some future scales with a similar purpose. Recommendations for future research are such that they should respond to the stated limitations of this research; to be directed towards a thorough validation, towards different types of samples, but also towards studying both the predictors of these health beliefs and the value of these beliefs for predicting some forms of health behaviour, quality of life, adherence to medical instructions, etc.

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“…Several rating scales were developed and applied in 2020, in response to the pandemic: the fiveitem Coronavirus Anxiety Scale developed by Lee et al [5], the COVID-19-Anxiety Questionnaire modified by Petzold et al [6] based on the DSM-5 Severity Measure for Specific Phobia-Adult scale, the seven-item Fear of COVID-19 scale developed by Ahorsu et al [7], the four-item Obsession with COVID-19 Scale developed by Lee et al [8], the 11-item Coronavirus Pandemic Anxiety Scale developed by Bernardo et al [9], the two-factor nine-item COVID-19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (6 items for perseverance and 3 items for avoidance) developed by Nikčević et al [10], and the seven-item COVID-19 Anxiety Scale developed by Silva et al [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-6 items (SAVE-6): A new instrument for assessing anxiety response to viral epidemics in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic

Chung¹,

Ahn²,

Lee³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, people have reported experiencing anxiety in response to the viral epidemic. This study aimed to explore the validity and usefulness of the Stress and Anxiety to the Viral Epidemic-6 items (SAVE-6) scale for measuring the anxiety response to the viral epidemic of the general population. A total of 1,009 respondents participated in an online survey, and 501 (49.7%) participants were rated as having at least a mild degree of anxiety response to the viral epidemic (SAVE-6 score ≥ 15), whereas 90 (8.9%) and 91 (9.0%) were rated as having depression and anxiety, respectively. The SAVE-6 scales showed good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .82). Confirmatory factor analysis supported a one-factor structure for the measure. Goodness-of-fit indices (χ2/df ratio = 19.1, CFI = .92; TLI = .86; SRMR = 0.05; RMSEA = .13) were adequate. The SAVE-6 was found to be a reliable, valid, and useful brief measure that can be applied to the general population. The SAVE-6 may be useful for easily assessing the anxiety symptoms during the pandemic in the general population.

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The COVID-19 anxiety syndrome scale: Development and psychometric properties

Abstract: Highlights A brief new measure to assess COVID-19 anxiety syndrome features is presented. The measure has acceptable levels of reliability and concurrent validity. The measure was found to predict COVID-19 anxiety and work and social adjustment controlling for other variables.

Cited by 148 publications

References 31 publications

Which personality traits can mitigate the impact of the pandemic? Assessment of the relationship between personality traits and traumatic events in the COVID-19 pandemic as mediated by defense mechanisms

Which personality traits can mitigate the impact of the pandemic? Assessment of the relationship between personality traits and traumatic events in the COVID-19 pandemic as mediated by defense mechanisms

Health beliefs about COVID-19: Instrument for assessment and expression of beliefs

The Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-6 items (SAVE-6): A new instrument for assessing anxiety response to viral epidemics in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic

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