Turkish Form of the COVID-19 Stress Scale: Validity and reliability study

During the COVID-19 pandemic, some measurement tools have been developed to assess pandemic-related stress. One of these measurement tools is the COVID-19 Stress Scale, which can evaluate the stress related to this disease in a versatile way. In the current study, it was aimed to adapt the COVID-19 Stress Scale into Turkish. In total, 180 people, whose ages ranged from 18 to 60, participated in the study. To examine the construct validity of the scale, exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analyses were carried out, and for criterion validity, correlation with similar scales (COVID-19 Fear Scale, Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale, and Vancouver Obsessive Compulsive Inventory) was checked. As a result of the analysis, it is noteworthy that the scale, which was originally a five-factor structure, has a six-factor structure (threat/danger, socioeconomic consequences, xenophobia, contamination, traumatic stress, and compulsive control) in our country. Also, it was determined that item factor loads ranged between .35 and .90, and the criterion-related validity was at an acceptable level. The scale is associated with similar measurement tools. According to the internal consistency coefficient calculated to evaluate the reliability of the scale, the Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient for the whole scale is .97, while these values vary between .89 and .96 for the sub-dimensions. Item-total correlations are between .63 and .82. In addition, split-half levels of the scale were calculated as .86. These findings support that the Turkish version of the scale is a reliable and valid measurement tool in assessing the stress due to COVID-19. The scale will make important contributions to the related literature in terms of allowing multi-dimensional evaluation on the basis of different sources of anxiety and showing good psychometric properties.