Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Oct;104(4):368504211050291.
doi: 10.1177/00368504211050291.

Development and criterion validity of the COVID-19 anxiety and fear assessment scale: a cross sectional study

Juan Gómez-Salgado  1   2 , Regina Allande-Cussó  3 , Carmen Rodríguez-Domínguez  4 , Sara Domínguez-Salas  4 , Selena Camacho-Martín  5 , Adolfo Romero Ruiz  6 , Carlos Ruiz-Frutos  1   2
Affiliations

Development and criterion validity of the COVID-19 anxiety and fear assessment scale: a cross sectional study

Juan Gómez-Salgado et al. Sci Prog. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Background: The emergence of the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which causes COVID-19 disease, has been a major public health challenge and an increase in the feeling of uncertainty of the population, who is also experiencing an increase in levels of anxiety and fear regarding the COVID-19 disease.

Objective: The objective of the study was the construct and criterion validation of the Escala de evaluación de la Ansiedad y MIedo a COVID-19 (AMICO, for its acronym in Spanish) to measure both constructs in the general Spanish population.

Methods: Descriptive study of psychometric validation. A field study was carried out to execute univariate and bivariate analyses, in addition to the exploratory and confirmatory factorial analysis of the scale. For the criteria validity study, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and sensitivity and specificity values were calculated.

Results: The study sample was composed of 1036 subjects over 18 years of age, who resided in Spain, where 56.3% were women with a mean age of 48.11 years (SD = 15.13). The study of construct validity reported two factors and 16 items, with a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.92. The scale was concurrently valid with the used gold standard and obtained sensitivity values of 90.48% and specificity values of 76%.

Conclusions: The AMICO scale is valid and reliable for assessing the level of anxiety and fear of COVID-19 in the adult Spanish population and is highly sensitive.

Keywords: COVID-19; Fear; anxiety; instrument development; mental health; public health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Confirmatory factor analysis.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
AMICO and STAI scales concurrent validity.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Distribution of scores according to anxiety and fear level.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Adhikari SP, Meng S, Wu YJet al.Epidemiology, causes, clinical manifestation and diagnosis, prevention and control of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during the early outbreak period: a scoping review. Infect Dis Poverty 2020; 9: 29. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Li X, Dai T, Wang Het al.Clinical analysis of suspected COVID-19 patients with anxiety and depression. Journal of Zhejiang University. Med Sci (Basel) 2020; 49: 203–208. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Qiu J, Shen B, Zhao Met al.et al.A nationwide survey of psychological distress among Chinese people in the COVID-19 epidemic: implications and policy recommendations. Gen Psychiatry 2020; 33: 19–21. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Páez D, Fernández I, Martín Beristain C. Catástrofes, traumas y conductas colectivas: procesos y efectos culturales. In: San Juan C. (ed) Catástrofes y ayuda En emergencia: estrategias de evaluación, prevención y tratamiento. Barcelona, Spain: Icaria, 2001, pp.85–148.
    1. Beck A, Emery G. Anxiety disorders and phobias: a cognitive perspective. NY, USA: Basic Books, 2005.