Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S)

Abstract

<title>Abstract</title> Globally, mental health impairments have been described based on the fear of the infection generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study is to test the psychometric properties of the Spanish validation the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), which has been recently developed to measure fear quantitatively. Participants were recruited through an Internet-based survey. 1077 subjects were included. To establish construct validity, an exploratory factor analysis was performed using the KMO test, which was adequate, and the Bartlett sphericity test, which was significant (p &lt;.0001). The CFI, NFI, GFI, TLI and RMSEA indices were used to evaluate the model and showed good adjustment. Cronbach’s alpha showed valid internal consistency (α=0.86). This validation is supported by significant correlation (p &lt;.001) with the HADS scale for anxiety and depression and with the Fear Questionnaire scale for specific phobia. In conclusion, the Spanish version of the FCV-19S is a 7-item scale with two dimensions, psychological symptoms (items 1, 2, 4, and 5) and physiological symptoms (items 3, 6, and 7) with robust psychometric properties.