Coronavirus anxiety scale: A validation study in an Indian population

Abstract

Background and Objective: Coronavirus is spreading across the globe since December 2019. As India's first case was reported on January 30, 2020, the spread of this virus is experiencing by our population. As a result, there are extensive emotional distress and anxiety among populations due to this pandemic. Screening mental health is important for psychological well-being of any individual during this pandemic. The objective of this study was to validate the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) in an Indian population. Materials and Methods: The research proposal was laid out before an ethical clearance committee, which approved the conduct of the research and consequent publication of the paper. Data were collected from 246 respondents through online. CAS, developed by Lee (2020), was adopted for the study. Informed consent was given by all the respondents, and their participation was voluntary. AMOS and SPSS were used to calculate confirmatory factor analysis and other statistical analyses. Bartlett's test of sphericity and Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) test, and Cronbach's alpha, were also calculated. Convergent validity was calculated through average variance extracted (AVE) and composite reliability (CR) in Microsoft Excel. Results, and Conclusions: Bartlett's test of sphericity was highly significant measuring Chi-square = 494.004, df = 10, and P < 0.001. The KMO was acceptable at 0.805. Fit indices (P < 0.001, Chi-square/df = 3.24, goodness of fit index = 0.976, Tucker–Lewis index = 0.954, and comparative fit index = 0.977) are statistically significant. Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.822), AVE (0.526), and CR (0.745) were adequate. The overall findings of the analyses demonstrate that the CAS is a reliable and valid scale that evaluates the severity levels of dysfunctional anxiety linked to COVID-19 in an Indian sample. CAS is applicable to measure the level of dysfunctional coronavirus anxiety in the Indian population.