Psychological distress in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic: Preliminary development of an assessment scale

Abstract

COVID-19 is now spreading worldwide, and poses some public mental health problems which requires close attention. This study aims to develop a scale of COVID-19 related psychological distress in healthy public (CORPD) to assess the severity of psychological distress in uninfected healthy populations. We compiled a 14item scale which contains two dimensions-Anxiety & fear and Suspicion-using the classical measurement theory. 652 Chinese citizens consented and completed a survey through an online questionnaire APP. The reliability test showed that the scale had good internal consistency reliability and Split-Half reliability, and the validity test showed that it had good structure validity, content validity and criterion correlation validity. This scale can be used to assess the psychological distress of people in China and in other COVID-19-hit regions and countries. It also provides a reference for future studies on COVID-19 or other respiratory infectious diseases related public mental health.

The mediator role of the fear of COVID-19 in the relationship between psychological resilience and life satisfaction

“…Cases such as the emergence of COVID-19 in many countries of the world, its rapid spread and the death of some infected people have caused serious anxiety, fear and panic in people (Taylor et al, 2020 ; Zhi, 2020 ). Therefore, COVID-19 has caused serious psychological problems in people of all age groups (Mo et al, 2020 ; Zhang, Wang, Rauch, & Wei, 2020 ; Haktanir, Seki, & Dilmaç, 2020 ; Feng et al, 2020 ; Evren, Evren, Dalbudak, Topcu, & Kutlu, 2020 ; Yue, Zang, Le, & An, 2020 ; Robles-Bello, Sánchez-Teruel, & Naranjo, 2020 ). People’s anxious and fearful mood resulting from their fear of being infected with COVID-19 is defined with the concept of “the fear of COVID-19” (Ahorsu et al, 2020 ).…”

Assessment of Psychological Distress and Associated Factors among Hospitalized Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic at Selected Hospitals in Southwest Ethiopia

“…4,5 COVID-19 is posing public mental health problems that require close attention. 6 It is associated with different degrees of negative and profound mental and psychological problems to both infected and uninfected people. [7][8][9] A lack of relevant information about disease outbreak in societies may also exacerbate the situation.…”

“…19 Social support was measured with the three-item Oslo Social Support Scale,which has been used in several studies. This scale has sum scores of 3-14, classified as poor support (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8), moderate support (8-10), and strong support (12)(13)(14). 20 The Perceived Life Threat Scale was used to measure perceived life events.…”

Design and Validation of the Adaptation to Change Questionnaire: New Realities in Times of COVID-19

“…Meanwhile, its use along with other instruments evaluating psychological variables in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic can have very useful clinical applications. Evaluation of threat [ 52 ] or perceived risk from COVID-19 [ 64 , 65 , 66 ], combined with the capacity for adaptation to change, can help develop risk profiles and mental health protection measures in the mid- to long-term.…”