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. 2022 May;29(3):906-921.
doi: 10.1002/cpp.2686. Epub 2021 Nov 22.

The Persian COVID-19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (C-19ASS): Psychometric properties in a general community sample of Iranians

Mehdi Akbari  1 , Mohammad Seydavi  1 , Elahe Zamani  1 , Ana V Nikčević  2 , Marcantonio M Spada  3
Affiliations

The Persian COVID-19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (C-19ASS): Psychometric properties in a general community sample of Iranians

Mehdi Akbari et al. Clin Psychol Psychother. 2022 May.

Abstract

There is a potential for a long-lasting psychological and social impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, the COVID-19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (C19-ASS) has been developed, which measures individuals' coping mechanisms in relation to the fear or threat of COVID-19. The C19-ASS was developed and has been used so far only in Western samples. Further psychometric evaluation is needed in ethnically diverse samples. Therefore, the current study sought to test the psychometric properties in a large sample of Iranians (n = 1429; female = 52.1%; Mean age = 35.83, ±12.89) who completed a cross-sectional survey. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the Persian C19-ASS has a two-factor structure corresponding to the perseveration and avoidance subscales of the original scale. Confirmatory factor analyses also supported a two-factor solution, which showed a firm model fit and high internal consistencies. Furthermore, it showed excellent divergent validity from generalized anxiety, indicating that it is concerned explicitly with COVID-19, supported by correlational analyses and exploratory factor analysis. Test of incremental validity indicated the Persian C19-ASS explained more variance in functional impairment and COVID-19 anxiety than the gender, marital and educational status, generalized anxiety, neuroticism, openness, consciousness and having lost someone close due to COVID-19. Also, based on a mediation test, it was found that C19-ASS mediates the relationship between the Big Five personality traits (except openness and consciousness) and health anxiety, generalized anxiety, depression and COVID-19 anxiety. Overall, the current findings provide further evidence for the construct of the COVID-19 anxiety syndrome. The COVID-19 anxiety syndrome is discussed in light of the S-REF model that provides an explanatory framework for this pandemic-related construct.

Keywords: COVID-19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale; avoidance; factor structure; perseveration; reliability; validity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Two of the authors were involved in developing the original version of the C19‐ASS for English‐speaking populations. The authors have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced this work.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The two‐factor solution model, confirmatory factor analysis. A, avoidance subscale; P, perseveration subscale
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Standardized path diagram for the mediating role of C19‐ASS in relationship between the Big Five personality traits and psychopathology. To keep the model clear, the covariances are removed. BFI‐A, Big Five Inventory‐10‐Agreeableness; BFI‐E, Big Five Inventory‐10‐Extraversion; BFI‐N, Big Five Inventory‐10‐Neuroticism; CAS, Coronavirus Anxiety Scale; PHQ, depressive symptoms, Patient Health Questionnaire; GAD, generalized anxiety disorder; health Anx, health anxiety; Whiteley index
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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