TY - JOUR
T1 - Arabic COVID-19 Psychological Distress Scale
T2 - Development and initial validation
AU - Fares, Zine El Abiddine
AU - Al-Tammemi, Ala'a B.
AU - F. Gadelrab, Hesham
AU - Lin, Chung Ying
AU - Aljaberi, Musheer A.
AU - Alhuwailah, Amthal
AU - Roubi, Mohammed Lakder
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
PY - 2021/6/17
Y1 - 2021/6/17
N2 - To develop a psychometrically reliable instrument to assess psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic across Arab countries. The new instrument was developed through the review of relevant literature. We adapted multiple items from the following tools: The Fear of COVID-19 Scale, Social Phobia Inventory, Health Anxiety Inventory, Swine Influenza Anxiety Scale and the Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety to design our new assessment tool which is called COVID-19 Psychological Distress Scale (CPDS). For psychometric analyses and validation, we conducted a cross-sectional study that solicited data through a web-based survey using the newly developed CPDS. This validation study was conducted in four Arab countries, including Algeria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. A total of 1337 participants from these countries have voluntarily responded to our survey questionnaire that included the newly developed scale. The final version of the CPDS comprised 12 items. Participants from Algeria (n=447), Kuwait (n=437), Saudi Arabia (n=160) and Yemen (n=293) have completed the 12-item CPDS. Exploratory factor analysis (used on the Algerian sample) suggested a two-factor structure of the CPDS. The two-factor structure was then supported by the confirmatory factor analysis with an independent sample. Additionally, Rasch analyses showed that all the items fit well in their embedded construct; only one item showed somewhat substantial differential item functioning across gender and country. The 12-item CPDS was found to be measurement invariant across country and gender. The CPDS, with its promising psychometric properties, might help healthcare professionals to identify people with COVID-19-induced psychological distress.
AB - To develop a psychometrically reliable instrument to assess psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic across Arab countries. The new instrument was developed through the review of relevant literature. We adapted multiple items from the following tools: The Fear of COVID-19 Scale, Social Phobia Inventory, Health Anxiety Inventory, Swine Influenza Anxiety Scale and the Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety to design our new assessment tool which is called COVID-19 Psychological Distress Scale (CPDS). For psychometric analyses and validation, we conducted a cross-sectional study that solicited data through a web-based survey using the newly developed CPDS. This validation study was conducted in four Arab countries, including Algeria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. A total of 1337 participants from these countries have voluntarily responded to our survey questionnaire that included the newly developed scale. The final version of the CPDS comprised 12 items. Participants from Algeria (n=447), Kuwait (n=437), Saudi Arabia (n=160) and Yemen (n=293) have completed the 12-item CPDS. Exploratory factor analysis (used on the Algerian sample) suggested a two-factor structure of the CPDS. The two-factor structure was then supported by the confirmatory factor analysis with an independent sample. Additionally, Rasch analyses showed that all the items fit well in their embedded construct; only one item showed somewhat substantial differential item functioning across gender and country. The 12-item CPDS was found to be measurement invariant across country and gender. The CPDS, with its promising psychometric properties, might help healthcare professionals to identify people with COVID-19-induced psychological distress.
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U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046006
DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046006
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85108083266
SN - 2044-6055
VL - 11
JO - BMJ open
JF - BMJ open
IS - 6
M1 - e046006
ER -