The German Translation of the Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-9 (SAVE-9) Scale: Results from Healthcare Workers during the Second Wave of COVID-19

Abstract

Healthcare workers (HCW) are among those most directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most research with this group has used ad hoc measures, which limits comparability across samples. The Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-9 scale (SAVE-9) is a nine-item scale first developed in Korea, and has since been translated into several languages. We report on data collected from 484 German HCW between November 2020 and March 2021, during the “second wave” of coronavirus infections. We conducted item analysis, confirmatory factor analysis on the previously found factor solutions of the SAVE-9, examined correlations with established measures of depression, generalized anxiety, and insomnia, and compared scores between different groups of HCW. The psychometric properties of the German SAVE-9 were satisfactory and comparable to previous findings from Korea and Russia (Mosolova et al., 2020). Correlations with mental health measures were positive, as expected. We found some significant differences between groups of HCW on the SAVE-9 which were consistent with the literature but did not appear on the other mental health measures. This suggests that the SAVE-9 taps into specifically work-related stress, which may make it a helpful instrument in this research area.

Validity and Reliability of the Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-6 (SAVE-6) Scale to Measure Viral Anxiety of Healthcare Workers in Spain During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…It was clustered into two factors: factor I (item 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8) and factor II (item 6, 7, and 9), and this clustering was parallel to the other validation studies of Italian, Japanese, and Turkish versions of the SAVE-9 scale. However, that clustering was not observed in other languages such as Russian (12) and German (16); factor I (item 2, 3, 4, and 8) and factor II (item 1, 5, 6, 7, and 9). The SAVE-6 was originally derived from the SAVE-9 scale; all items of SAVE-6 were selected to measure the anxiety response of healthcare workers.…”

“…There might be differences in the pandemic situation, language, or healthcare system environment among various countries. The factor structure of the Japanese, Italian, and Turkish versions of the SAVE-9 scale was similar to that of the original version; however, the Russian and German versions were different (12,16). Originally we developed the SAVE-9 scale to measure work-related stress and viral anxiety specifically to the viral epidemic and specifically to healthcare workers.…”

“…For that, Chung et al (11) developed the Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-9 items (SAVE-9) scale to measure healthcare workers' work-related stress and anxiety responses during the pandemic. It is a 9item self-rating scale and validated in Korean (11), Russian (12), Italian (13), Japanese (14), Turkish (15), and German (16). The SAVE-6 scale, derived from the SAVE-9 scale, used to assess the anxiety response of the general population, was validated in Korean (17), Lebanese (18), and American samples (19).…”

The Psychometric Properties of the Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-6 Items: A Test in the U.S. General Population

“…We originally developed Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-9 items (SAVE-9) scale, a nine-item scale to assess stress and anxiety of healthcare workers in response to the viral epidemic (11). It has the advantage of being a compact psychological scale that can be used in many various pandemic situations, and it was validated in various languages including Russian (12), Italian (13), Japanese (14), Turkish (15), and German (16). In a previous study, the SAVE-9 scale was divided into two factors; factor I-anxiety about viral epidemics (namely, SAVE-6), and factor II-work-related stress associated with viral epidemics.…”

Validation of the Russian version of Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics – 9 items (SAVE-9) among healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic

“…Epidemics -9 items, SAVE-9), разработанная в Южной Корее [19], является первым специальным инструментом для оценки стресса и тревоги непосредственно у медицинских работников во время вирусной эпидемии. На сегодняшний день SAVE-9 переведена на многие языки мира [20] и была валидирована среди медицинских работников в Японии [21], Германии [22], Турции [23] и Италии [24], а ее сокращенная версия (SAVE-6) -в Испании [25] и среди общей популяции в США [26] и Ливане [27]. Использование данной шкалы в качестве метода скрининга в нашей стране может значительно повысить эффективность выявления групп медицинских работников, которые нуждаются в психологической и психиатрической помощи.…”