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Portuguese version of the fear of COVID-19 scale – psychometric study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

C. Cabaços ,
A.T. Pereira ,
P. Paredes ,
S. Almeida ,
A. Araujo ,
R. Sousa  and
A. Macedo
C. Cabaços*
Affiliation:
Psychiatry Department, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal Institute Of Psychological Medicine, Faculty Of Medicine, University of Coimbra, coimbra, Portugal
A.T. Pereira
Affiliation:
Institute Of Psychological Medicine, Faculty Of Medicine, University of Coimbra, coimbra, Portugal
P. Paredes
Affiliation:
Faculty Of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
S. Almeida
Affiliation:
Faculty Of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
A. Araujo
Affiliation:
Psychiatry Department, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal Institute Of Psychological Medicine, Faculty Of Medicine, University of Coimbra, coimbra, Portugal
R. Sousa
Affiliation:
Usf Coimbra Centro, USF Coimbra Centro, Coimbra, Portugal
A. Macedo
Affiliation:
Psychiatry Department, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal Institute Of Psychological Medicine, Faculty Of Medicine, University of Coimbra, coimbra, Portugal
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

More than in other conditions, fear is associated with infectious diseases, and is directly associated with its transmission rate, morbidity and mortality. High levels of fear can affect the individual’s ability to think clearly, react proportionately and make rational decisions in the context of COVID-19. Recently, Mertens et al. (2020) developed the Fear of Covid-19 Scale (FCV-19S) to measure this construct.

Objectives

To analyse the psychometric properties of the FCV-19S Portuguese version, namely construct validity, internal consistency and convergent validity.

Methods

A community sample of 234 adults (75.6% women; mean age= 29.53±12.51; range:16-71) completed an on-line survey with the Portuguese versions of the FCV-19S, the Covid-19 Perceived Risk Scale (CPRS) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21).The total sample was randomly divided in two sub-samples: sample A (n=117) was used to perform an exploratory factor analysis/EFA; sample B (n=117) to make a confirmatory factor analysis/CFA.

Results

EFA resulted in one component. CFA revealed that the unifactorial model presented acceptable fit indexes (X2/df=3.291; CFI=.977; GFI=.932; TLI=.919; p[RMSEA≤.01]=.091). Cronbach alpha was α=.855. The total score significantly correlated with Covid-19 Perceived Risk (r=.529, p<.01) and with anxiety from DASS-21 (r=.132, p<.05).

Conclusions

This study provides preliminary evidence for the validity and reliability of the Portuguese version of FCV-19S, which will be used in an ongoing research project on the relationship between fear of Covid-19, personality, cognitive processes and adherence to public health measures to contain the pandemic.

Keywords

COVID-19Fear of COVID-19
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 64 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2021 , pp. S259 - S260
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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