Development of the COVID-19 psychological impact Scale: A validity and reliability study

Abstract

This scale development study aimed to identify the level of COVID-19 impact on the psychology of adults during or after the pandemic. The study group consisted of 1604 individuals for the first stage and 597 individuals for the second stage, who were reached online through convenience sampling method. After the exploratory factor analysis performed on the 50-item pilot survey, a three-factor structure was obtained explaining 60.96% of the total variance. The load values of the items in the Dejection sub-dimension were between 0.65 and 0.82, in the Anxiety sub-dimension between 0.59 and 0.77 and in the Frustration sub-dimension between 0.70 and 0.76. In the reliability analysis, the Cronbach Alpha value for the whole scale was found to be 0.93, and the Cronbach Alpha values for the subscales were found to be Dejection = 0.94, Anxiety = 0.81 and Frustration = 0.83. For similar criterion validity, the survey was applied to 597 new participants and the Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient between the COVID-19 Psychological Impact Scale and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale was found to be 0.71. A confirmatory factor analysis was carried out with the new data set from 597 participants and the goodness of fit index values obtained showed that the model was acceptable and/or perfect compatible. As a result of the research, it has been revealed that the COVID-19 Psychological Impact Scale is a valid and reliable scale applicable to adults aged 18 and over.