The Arab COVID‐19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (C‐19ASS): COVID‐19 anxiety syndrome and psychological symptoms in the Saudi Arabian population

Abstract

IntroductionThe COVID‐19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (C‐19ASS) is a reliable scale assessing dysfunctional coping strategies activated in response to COVID‐19 fear and threat. The present study aimed to provide a validation of the Arabic version of the C‐19ASS and to explore the association between the C‐19ASS and psychological symptoms syndrome.MethodIn Study 1, a community sample of 404 participants completed the Arabic version of the C‐19ASS and results were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis. In Study 2, a community sample of 903 participants completed the Arabic version of the C‐19ASS and a series of measures assessing depressed mood and anhedonia, generalized anxiety and health anxiety. Internal consistency, construct validity and incremental validity were assessed. Associations between C‐19ASS and psychological symptoms were assessed.ResultsFactor analysis identified a two‐factor solution (i.e., C‐19ASS‐Perseveration and C‐19ASS‐Avoidance), and confirmatory factor analysis suggested a two‐factor model best fits the data. The Arabic version of the C‐19ASS showed good internal consistency, good construct and incremental validity. COVID‐19 anxiety syndrome was associated with more severe anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms and health anxiety. Females had higher levels of COVID‐19 anxiety syndrome than males. Participants diagnosed with COVID‐19, and those who had experienced loss as a consequence of COVID‐19, had higher levels of COVID‐19 anxiety syndrome (Perseveration).ConclusionsThe Arabic version of the C‐19ASS appears to be a reliable and valid measure of the COVID‐19 anxiety syndrome. The COVID‐19 anxiety syndrome could be a suitable therapeutic target to improve psychological recovery during the COVID‐19 pandemic among Arabs.

Psychometric properties and psychological correlates of the COVID‐19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale: A comprehensive systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…The current systematic review and meta-analysis sought to investigate the correlates and psychometric properties of the C-19ASS. The C-19ASS exhibited a consistent factor structure and acceptable reliability in Brazilian (Coelho et al, 2022), Chinese (Xin et al, 2022), Greek (Seydavi et al, Unpublished), Indonesian (Muthiah et al, 2022), Iranian (Akbari, Seydavi, et al, 2021), Italian (Mansueto et al, 2022), Saudi Arabian (Alhakami et al, 2023), Turkish (Obu ca et al, Unpublished) and US (Nikčevi c & Spada, 2020) populations. In addition, it has been studied concerning a vast array of variables, as described above, which makes it a promising tool for assessing COVID-19-pandemic-related psychopathology.…”

“…More than 62.5% used a convenience sample for participant recruitment or did not report their method of recruitment, and about 50% of the articles did not report the exclusion rate of participants. ranging from 0.02 (Nikčevi c & Spada, 2020) to 0.06 (Muthiah et al, 2022), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) ranging from 0.02 (Mansueto et al, 2022;Nikčevi c & Spada, 2020) to 0.07 (Akbari, Seydavi, et al, 2021;Muthiah et al, 2022), comparative fit index (CFI) ranging from 0.95 (Coelho et al, 2022) to 0.99 (Mansueto et al, 2022) and Tucker-Lewis's index (TLI) ranging from 0.90 (Muthiah et al, 2022) to 0.99 (Alhakami et al, 2023). In addition, a…”

“…Psychometric properties of the C-19ASS 3.6.1 | Factor structure and fit indices The two-factor model of C-19ASS comprising the avoidance and perseveration factors provided by the parent study (Nikčevi c & Spada, 2020) has been confirmed by various versions of the English (Nikčevi c & Spada, 2020), Persian(Akbari, Seydavi, et al, 2021), Brazilian(Coelho et al, 2022), Italian(Mansueto et al, 2022), Arabic(Alhakami et al, 2023), Turkish (Obu ca et al, Unpublished) and Greek (Seydavi et al, Unpublished) measures. However, Hoseinzadeh et al (2022) also validated another Persian version of C-19ASS.…”

Validity and reliability of the COVID‐19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale in Canadian dentists

“…(Alhakami et al, 2023). The EFA showed that item 4 loaded onto the Avoidance factor (Alhakami et al, 2023).…”

An assessment of the psychometric properties and psychological correlates of the Greek COVID‐19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (C‐19ASS)

“…Since the C-19ASS was first published in English (Nikčevi c & Spada, 2020), several countries have welcomed it, including Iran (Persian; Akbari et al, 2022), Italy (Italian;Mansueto et al, 2022), Indonesia (Indonesian; Muthiah et al, 2022), Brazil (Portuguese;Coelho et al, 2022), Saudi Arabia (Alhakami et al, 2023), and Canada (Seth et al, 2023). It has been shown, as a measure, to have a strong structure (confirmed two factors), convergent (with functional impairment as measured by work and social adjustment; Mundt et al, 2002), and divergent (from generalized anxiety, Akbari et al, 2022; negative affect and coronavirus anxiety scale; Lee et al, 2020) validity and incremental validity in explaining additional variance in the work and social adjustment scale (Mundt et al, 2002), and coronavirus anxiety scale (Lee et al, 2020).…”