First study to evaluate the psychometric properties of the PRE-COVID-19 in a clinical sample using CTT and IRT procedures.
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Measuring concern about the spread of COVID-19 allows us to know the impact of the pandemic on mental health.
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Identifying levels of contagion concern would allow for potential risk groups to be located.
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The PRE-COVID-19 differentiates between people with a critical and serious concern about the spread of COVID-19.
Abstract
Aims
It is important to have valid and reliable measures to determine the psychological impact of COVID-19 in patients with diabetes; however, few instruments have been developed and validated for this population. Therefore, the aim of this study was to validate the Scale of Worry for Contagion of COVID-19 (PRE-COVID-19) in a sample of patients with diabetes mellitus (DM).
Materials and methods
A total of 219 patients (66.2% female, mean age 58.5 SD = 18.2) participated, selected through non-probabilistic sampling. The PRE-COVID-19 and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-2 were applied. Reliability analysis was performed for internal consistency, structural equation modeling and item response theory modeling.
Results
The results show that a unidimensional 5-item model presents satisfactory goodness-of-fit indices and excellent reliability values. Likewise, convergent validity between the PRE-COVID-19 and a measure of anxiety is evident. All items present adequate discrimination parameters, allowing for discerning between those patients with critical concern about COVID-19 contagion from those with severe concern.
Conclusion
It is concluded that the PRE-COVID-19 is an instrument with adequate psychometric properties to measure concern about COVID-19 infection and the emotional impact in patients with DM.