Validation and psychometric evaluation of the Italian version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale

Soraci, P, Ferrari, A, Abbiati, FA, Del Fante, E, De Pace, R, Urso, A and Griffiths, MD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8880-6524, 2022. Validation and psychometric evaluation of the Italian version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 20 (4), pp. 1913-1922. ISSN 1557-1874

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Abstract

Background: The advent of COVID-19 worldwide has led to consequences for people’s health, both physical and psychological, such as fear and anxiety. This is the case in Italy, one of the countries most affected by the pandemic. Given the heightened fear concerning COVID-19 in Italy., the present study analyzed the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S).

Methods: The sample comprised 250 Italian participants who were administered Italian versions of the FCV-19S, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Severity Measure for Specific Phobia–Adult (SMSP-A). Several psychometric tests were performed to investigate the validity and reliability of the test including confirmatory factor analysis.

Results: Analysis of the data showed satisfactory psychometric characteristics and confirmed the scale’s unidimensional properties. The seven FCV-19S items had acceptable correlations with the test total (from .443 to .784). Furthermore, the loadings on the factor were significant and strong (from .684 to .897). The internal consistency was very good (α = .871). Construct validity for the FCV-19S was supported by significant and positive correlations with the HADS (r=.649) and SMSP-A (r=.703).

Conclusions: The Italian version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale is valid and reliable in assessing fear of COVID-19 among the general Italian population.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
Creators:	Soraci, P., Ferrari, A., Abbiati, F.A., Del Fante, E., De Pace, R., Urso, A. and Griffiths, M.D.
Publisher:	Springer
Date:	August 2022
Volume:	20
Number:	4
ISSN:	1557-1874
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1007/s11469-020-00277-1 DOI 1322727 Other
Rights:	Copyright © 2020, Springer Nature. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	05 May 2020 10:26
Last Modified:	11 Aug 2022 14:45
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/39785

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