Fear of COVID-19 scale: Psychometric properties, reliability and validity in Egyptian population

• Published in: Diabetes & metabolic syndrome clinical research & reviews Vol. 15; no. 4; p. 102153
• Main Authors: Fawzy El-Bardan, Mohamed, Lathabhavan, Remya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2021
• Subjects: Arabic FCV-19S; Egypt; Fear of COVID-19; Fear of COVID-19 scale; Arabic FCV-19S; Fear of COVID-19; Fear of COVID-19 scale; FCV-19S; Egypt
• ISSN: 1871-4021; 1878-0334
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dsx.2021.05.026

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the psychometric qualities of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV–19S) in a sample of Egyptian college students. The researchers also aim at exploring the construct validity further through examining the relationship between FCV-19S, wellbeing and life satisfaction in Egyptian universities context. The current study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Fear of COVID-19 scale among Egyptian population. The FCV-19S is translated and validated in Egyptian context. The forward backward translation method is used to translate the English version of the survey into Arabic. The sample is comprised of 1832 Egyptian participants, who have conducted an online survey based on the Arabic versions of FCV-19S. The Cronbach α value for the Egyptian FCV-19S is 0.87, indicating a good internal reliability. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis show that the unidimensional factor structure of the FCV-19S has fitted well with the data. The FCV-19S is significantly correlated with the seven-item survey. Moreover, the results show a significant negative relationship between Fear of COVID-19 and both wellbeing and life satisfaction (r = -0.42, p < 0.001; r = -0.24, p < 0.01.), respectively. The study supports the one factor model of FCV-19S scale in Egyptian context. The Arabic scale version in the Egyptian context shows excellent reliability and validity. This ensures a good measure that can be accepted for both academia and practitioners for analyzing ill-effects of pandemic impacts and, thereby, reducing them. •Study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of Fear of Covid- 19 Scale (FCV–19S) in Egypt.•The sample is comprised of 1832 Egyptian participants, who have conducted an online survey.•The Cronbach α value for the Egyptian FCV-19S is 0.87, indicating a good internal reliability.•The results show that the unidimensional factor structure of the FCV-19S has fitted well with the data.