Construction and validation of a scale to assess socio-psychological and affective consequences of COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated different consequences, including susceptibility to infection with a potentially deadly virus, interpersonal relationships affected by confinement, and in some cases, a negative affective response to government decisions such as social distancing measures, school, workplaces and public transportation closures, and restrictions on meetings. The present study evaluated the psychometric fit of a scale that measures the socio-psychological and affective consequences of COVID-19. It was a cross-sectional, instrumental study; 582 Mexicans between 18 and 65 years of age (22.1% men, 77.9% women) participated. A scale was constructed with 14 Likert-type items with five answer options. The fit of the measurement model was evaluated through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). All items discriminated between high and low scores; the KMO and Bartlett's test of sphericity values were adequate to estimate the EFA. Four factors were identified: I) Deterioration of family relationships due to confinement (α=.88), II) Risk perception before COVID-19 (α=.84), III)Attitude about government health decisions (α=.94); and IV) Responsibility for health care (α=.70). The overall internal consistency index of the scale was α=.74 and ω=.75; the variance explained was 74.10%. However, the Parallel Analysis suggests only three dimensions: Factor I (α=.88; ω=.88), II (α=.94; ω=.94), and III (α=.84; ω=.84). This second model explains 79.28% and consists of 11 items. The model fit indices were acceptable: CMIN/DF=1.883; NFI=.984; CFI=.992; GFI=.979; AGFI=.964; SRMR=.029; RMSEA=.039. Having valid and reliable scales becomes a way to obtain relevant information as inputs for other research aimed at relating variables of interest or predicting preventive or risk behavior before COVID-19.