Psychometric properties of the Fear of Monkeypox Scale among men who have sex with men

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Lin, C-Y, Pakpour, AH, Griffiths, MD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8880-6524, Lin, C-W and Yen, C-F, 2024. Psychometric properties of the Fear of Monkeypox Scale among men who have sex with men. Taiwanese Journal of Psychiatry, 38 (4), pp. 193-197. ISSN 1028-3684

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.4103/tpsy.tpsy_34_24

Abstract

Objectives: An outbreak of monkeypox (Mpox) appeared suddenly and rapidly spread worldwide during 2022. Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at a high risk of contracting Mpox compared to other cohorts. In the present study, we intended to examine the psychometric properties of a newly developed scale among MSM: the Fear of Mpox Scale (FMS) assessing the fear of Mpox.

Methods: This is an online study. The factor structures of the FMS were first examined using exploratory factor analysis. After determining the factor structure, the FMS was further examined for (a) internal consistency using Cronbach’s α and (b) concurrent validity using correlations with anxiety, depression, and risk perception of contracting Mpox, and the known-group validity by comparing the scores of the FMS across MSM with sexual orientation and education level.

Results: In total, 389 MSM participated in this study. The results indicated that the FMS had a one-factor structure. The FMS had acceptable internal consistency (α = 0.911) and concurrent validity (associated with anxiety [p < 0.01], depression [p < 0.001], and risk perception [p < 0.001]). No significant difference in the FMS scores was found between the groups with regard to sexual orientation or educational level.

Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated that the psychometric properties of the FMS were good and that they can be used for assessing the fear of Mpox among MSM.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Taiwanese Journal of Psychiatry
Creators:	Lin, C.-Y., Pakpour, A.H., Griffiths, M.D., Lin, C.-W. and Yen, C.-F.
Publisher:	Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date:	2024
Volume:	38
Number:	4
ISSN:	1028-3684
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.4103/tpsy.tpsy_34_24 DOI 2331445 Other
Rights:	© 2024 Taiwanese Journal of Psychiatry (Taipei). Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow. This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	06 Jan 2025 10:38
Last Modified:	06 Jan 2025 10:38
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/52765