COVID-19 Fear Among Pakistanis: Psychometric Evaluation of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale Using Item Response Theory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis

AbstractThe Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) assesses the fear of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and has been translated and validated into over 20 languages. The present study conducted confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and item response theory (IRT) analyses on the FCV-19S among a sample of 937 Pakistani adults (mean [SD] age of 25.83 [11.80] years; 537 [57.3%] females). The CFA and IRT confirmed the unidimensionality of the FCV-19S. The Likert-type scale used in the FCV-19S was supported by the proper threshold orderings. Additionally, no DIF contrast had an absolute value larger than 0.5 regarding the participants ’ characteristics of gender, age, living status, and education in the IRT findings. The FCV-19S was found to be valid and reliable with strong psychometric properties among the Pakistani adult population.
Source: International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction - Category: Addiction Source Type: research