Validity and reliability of the COVID‐19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale in Canadian dentists

Abstract

BackgroundThe COVID‐19 pandemic has resulted in a high level of mental health problems for the population worldwide including healthcare workers. Several studies have assessed these using measurements for anxiety for general populations. The COVID‐19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (C‐19ASS) is a self‐report measure developed to assess maladaptive forms of coping with COVID‐19 (avoidance, threat monitoring and worry) among a general adult population in the United States. We used it in a prospective cohort study of COVID‐19 incidence rates in practising Canadian dentists. We therefore need to ensure that it is valid for dentists in French and English languages. This study aimed to evaluate the validity of the C‐19ASS in that population.MethodsCross‐sectional data from the January 2021 monthly follow‐up in our prospective cohort study were used. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were performed.ResultsThe results of EFA revealed a 2‐factor structure solution that explained 47% of the total variance. The CFA showed a good model fit on the data in both English and French languages. The Cronbach's alpha indicated acceptable levels of reliability. Furthermore, the C‐19ASS showed excellent divergent validity from the Generalized Anxiety Disorder‐7 (GAD‐7) scale.ConclusionsThe C‐19ASS is valid and reliable instrument to measure COVID‐19‐related anxiety in English and French among Canadian dentists.Practical implicationsThis validated measure will contribute to understanding of the mental health impact of the pandemic on dentists in Canada and enable the dental regulatory authorities and organizations to intervene to help dentists.

Sensitivity to change of the COVID-19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale among Canadian dentists

“…We have previously investigated and reported the internal, convergent and cross-cultural validity of the C-19ASS, demonstrating the instrument works well with Canadian dentists. 29 Given the longitudinal nature of our work we wanted to also investigate the instrument's responsiveness to change during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study has built on our previous work by demonstrating the instrument's sensitivity to change, which is necessary for instruments to be used in longitudinal studies, particularly given the cross-sectional nature of previous psychometric validation studies.…”

“…A widely used instrument, the COVID-19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale 23 was initially developed to reliably assess the presence of COVID-19 anxiety syndrome features in a general US adult population. Later, it was validated in several countries including Iran, 24 Italy, 25 Indonesia, 26 Brazil, 27 Saudi Arabia 28 , Canada 29 and Greece. 30 A previous study in Canada has evaluated the validity and reliability of the C-19ASS in English and French among Canadian dentists and it can be used to evaluate COVID-19 related anxiety in this population.…”

“…30 A previous study in Canada has evaluated the validity and reliability of the C-19ASS in English and French among Canadian dentists and it can be used to evaluate COVID-19 related anxiety in this population. 29 As a follow-up to this, further validation of this anxiety measure in Canadian dentists can be done by assessment of a longitudinal measurement aspect, responsiveness (sensitivity to change) which is an important psychometric property of a measure. Responsiveness is the ability of a measure to detect a real change in the true value of an underlying construct.…”

An assessment of the psychometric properties and psychological correlates of the Greek COVID‐19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (C‐19ASS)

“…Since the C-19ASS was first published in English (Nikčevi c & Spada, 2020), several countries have welcomed it, including Iran (Persian; Akbari et al, 2022), Italy (Italian;Mansueto et al, 2022), Indonesia (Indonesian; Muthiah et al, 2022), Brazil (Portuguese;Coelho et al, 2022), Saudi Arabia (Alhakami et al, 2023), and Canada (Seth et al, 2023). It has been shown, as a measure, to have a strong structure (confirmed two factors), convergent (with functional impairment as measured by work and social adjustment; Mundt et al, 2002), and divergent (from generalized anxiety, Akbari et al, 2022; negative affect and coronavirus anxiety scale; Lee et al, 2020) validity and incremental validity in explaining additional variance in the work and social adjustment scale (Mundt et al, 2002), and coronavirus anxiety scale (Lee et al, 2020).…”