The Japanese version of the Fear of COVID-19 scale: Reliability, validity, and relation to coping behavior

Abstract

COVID-19 is spreading worldwide, causing various social problems. The aim of the present study was to verify the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) and to ascertain FCV-19S effects on assessment of Japanese people's coping behavior. After back-translation of the scale, 450 Japanese participants were recruited from a crowdsourcing platform. These participants responded to the Japanese FCV-19S, the Japanese versions of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) and the Japanese versions of the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease (PVD), which assesses coping behaviors such as stockpiling and health monitoring, reasons for coping behaviors, and socio-demographic variables. Results indicated the factor structure of the Japanese FCV-19S as including seven items and one factor that were equivalent to those of the original FCV-19S. The scale showed adequate internal reliability (α = .87; ω = .92) and concurrent validity, as indicated by significantly positive correlations with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; anxiety, r = .56; depression, r = .29) and Perceived Vulnerability to Disease (PVD; perceived infectability, r = .32; germ aversion, r = .29). Additionally, the FCV-19S not only directly increased all coping behaviors (β = .21 - .36); it also indirectly increased stockpiling through conformity reason (indirect effect, β = .04; total effect, β = .31). These results suggest that the Japanese FCV-19S psychometric scale has equal reliability and validity to those of the original FCV-19S. These findings will contribute further to the investigation of various difficulties arising from fear about COVID-19 in Japan.

Validation and Psychometric Properties of the Portuguese Version of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) and Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) and Associations with Travel, Tourism and Hospitality

“…Additionally, both instruments revealed good internal consistency for the global score and the two subscales of the FCV-19S. The findings are consistent with those found for CAS in a significant number of studies [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 24 , 25 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ].…”

“…Additionally, Ahorsu and colleagues [ 10 ] developed the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) to identify and early intervene, psychologically, in people with high values of fear of COVID-19. This scale has been validated in the Bangla [ 21 ], Greek [ 22 ], Arabic [ 23 ], Malay [ 24 ], Italian [ 25 ], Hebrew [ 26 ] and Spanish [ 27 ] languages, Spanish language in Peru [ 28 ], Spanish language in Argentina [ 29 ], Portuguese language in Brazil [ 30 ], Japanese [ 31 ] and Chinese [ 32 ] languages and in Eastern Europe [ 33 ] and India [ 34 ].…”

Fear of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among pregnant and infertile women in Japan

“…The total score (sum of individual response items) ranges from 7 to 35, with higher scores indicating a higher fear of COVID-19. A Japanese version ( Wakashima et al, 2020 ) was used.…”

“… Ahmed et al, 2020 ; Ahorsu et al, 2020b ; Soraci et al, 2020 ). Fears of COVID-19 can affect not only mental health issues such as depression ( Sakib et al, 2020 ), but also social behaviors such as hoarding groceries and necessities ( Corbett et al, 2020 ; Wakashima et al, 2020 ). Based on these contextual concerns, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) was developed to enable individuals to assess their fear of COVID-19 ( Ahorsu et al, 2020b ).…”

“…In Japan, the fear of COVID-19 not only directly increased engagement in all coping behaviors, but also indirectly increased stockpiling through conforming behavior ( Wakashima et al, 2020 ). In Japan, the social environment surrounding pregnant women has also changed because of the pandemic, with companies forcing pregnant women to go to work ( Koizumi, 2020 ), and expectant mothers living in large cities are asked to refrain from giving birth in their hometowns ( Ichino, 2020 ).…”