Psychometric properties of the COVID stress scales (CSS) within Arabic language in a Palestinian context

Abstract

The main goal of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the COVID Stress Scales (CSS) in the Palestinian context and the factorial structure of the instrument. The CSS, a newly emerging internationally standardized measure of stress related to being exposed to or contracting COVID-19, was translated and validated for a Palestinian context to ensure that it can be used to measure COVID-19 stress. The sample of the study consisted of 860 Palestinian adults living in the West Bank of Palestine. Participants' age ranged from 20 to 48 years old (M = 34.7, SD =13.46). They were all recruited from online advertisements, e-mail campaigns, blogs, social media, and SMS campaigns. The CSS was found to be valid in the Arabic language within a Palestinian context. The confirmatory factor analysis yielded six factors: (1) Fears about the dangerousness of COVID-19, (2) fears about the personal social, and economic consequences of COVID-19, fears of disruption in the supply chain, fears of looting or rioting, (3) COVID-19-xenophobia, fears that foreigners are sources of COVID-19, (4) fears about sources of COVID-19-related contamination,(5) traumatic stress symptoms related to COVID-19, and (6) COVID-19-related checking which is consisting with the ordinal structure the scale. The CSS demonstrated a high level of validity and reliability in a Palestinian context and therefore can be considered for future studies as the COVID-19 pandemic persists. Further investigations using the Arabic Language of CSS may have far-reaching implications for measuring and combating the stress of COVID-19 at a personal and societal level for uniquely at-risk populations such as in the occupied territories of Palestine.

The Polish COVID Stress Scales: Considerations of psychometric functioning, measurement invariance, and validity

“…Convergent associations between the five CSS-PL subscales and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) assessing fear of COVID-19 [ 21 ] were moderate to strong in size. Positive correlations between the FCV-19S and CSS have been also demonstrated in other studies aiming at developing non-English versions of the CSS-PL (e.g., the Persian and Arabic versions of the CCS [ 11 , 44 ]. This pattern of associations between the CSS and FCV-19S also suggest that the FCV-19S appears to capture two constructs measured by the CSS, i.e., the danger and contamination and the traumatic symptoms and checking constructs [ 48 ].…”

“…Consistent with the original CSS [ 8 ], as well as other language versions of the CSS (e.g., Persian and Arabic) [ 11 , 43 , 44 ] a 5 factor structure of the CSS-PL appeared reasonable. This further suggests that across cultural context the items of the CSS tend to cohere into a similar handful of factors (though in certain samples more or less factors may also be defensible), and that these factors are moderately to strongly interrelated, providing evidence for the COVID Stress Syndrome across diverse nations.…”

“…Four factors thus appeared adequate to characterize the CSS in both the Polish and Dutch samples, however the 5-factor solution was ultimately retained for the remainder of the analyses. This was done to remain consistent with the original results provided by Taylor and colleagues [ 8 ], as well as with other non-English language versions of the CSS [ 11 , 43 , 44 ]; that is, most applications of the CSS use the 5-factor solution, and so it was retained here to maintain conceptual coherence across the relevant literature. Also, the 5-factor solution still appeared reasonable in the Polish and Dutch samples, even if it was not the most parsimonious (it simply involved splitting the Traumatic Stress and Checking Scales into distinct factors).…”

Subjective well-being, sense of coherence, and posttraumatic growth mediate the association between COVID-19 stress, trauma, and burnout among Palestinian health-care providers.

“…Items were rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 0 ( not at all ) to 4 ( extremely ). The scale has been validated in its Palestinian/Arabic form (Mahamid, Veronese, Bdier, et al, 2021). In our present study, Cronbach’s coefficient α was calculated to test the internal consistency.…”

Gender-based violence experiences among Palestinian women during the COVID-19 pandemic: mental health professionals’ perceptions and concerns

“…A novel coronavirus that was termed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO) is a “pneumonia of unknown origin” responsible for a worldwide outbreak [ 30 ]. COVID-19 is highly contagious and rapidly spreading [ 55 ].…”