How to Assess Perceived Risks and Safety Behaviors Related to Pandemics; Developing the Pandemic Risk and Reaction Scale during the Covid-19 Outbreak
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Abstract
Objective: The aim of the present study was to develop a self-report questionnaire to assess the level of perceived risks and safety behaviors during pandemics.
Method: We went through recommended phases and their corresponding steps to create a valid and reliable scale: (a) item development (including 1. domain identification and item generation, 2. content validity), (b) scale development (including 1. pretesting questions, 2. sampling and survey administration, 3. item reduction, and 4. extraction of factors), and (c) scale evaluation (including 1. tests of dimensionality, 2. tests of reliability, and 3. tests of validity).
Results: We found four factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 that were accounted for 0.63 of the total variance. The 4-factor solution showed all items had factor loading greater than 0.4 and each belonged to one factor. The fit indices indicated the 4-factor solution model was fitted to our data.
Conclusion: In sum, the Pandemic Risk and Reaction Scale (PRRS) is a valid and reliable self-reported scale to assess the level of perceived risk and safety behaviors during pandemics.
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16. Ahorsu DK, Lin CY, Imani V, Saffari M, Griffiths MD, Pakpour AH. The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Development and Initial Validation. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2020:1-9.
17. Noorbala AA, Faghihzadeh S, Kamali K, Bagheri Yazdi SA, Hajebi A, Mousavi MT, et al. Mental Health Survey of the Iranian Adult Population in 2015. Arch Iran Med. 2017;20(3):128-34.
18. Nazifi M, Mokarami H, Akbaritabar A, FarajiKujerdi M, Tabrizi R, Rahi A. Reliability, validity and factor structure of the persian translation of general health questionnire (ghq-28) in hospitals of kerman university of medical sciences. Journal of Fasa University of Medical Sciences. 2014;3(4):336-42.
19. Abramowitz JS, Deacon BJ, Valentiner DP. The Short Health Anxiety Inventory: Psychometric Properties and Construct Validity in a Non-clinical Sample. Cognit Ther Res. 2007;31(6):871-83.
20. Shahidi S, Molaie A, Dehghani M. Relationship between health anxiety and alexithymia in an Iranian sample. Procedia Soc Behav Sci. 2012;46:591-5.
21. Andrews G, Slade T. Interpreting scores on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Aust N Z J Public Health. 2001;25(6):494-7.
22. Christianson S, Marren J. The Impact of Event Scale - Revised (IES-R). Medsurg Nurs. 2012;21(5):321-2.
23. Panaghi L, Mogadam JA. Persian version validation in impact of event Scale-Revised. Tehran Univ Med J. 2006;64(3):52-60.
24. Weiss DS. The impact of event scale: revised. In Cross-cultural assessment of psychological trauma and PTSD: Springer; 2007. p. 219-38.
25. Creamer M, Bell R, Failla S. Psychometric properties of the Impact of Event Scale - Revised. Behav Res Ther. 2003;41(12):1489-96.
26. Satici B, Gocet-Tekin E, Deniz ME, Satici SA. Adaptation of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Its Association with Psychological Distress and Life Satisfaction in Turkey. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2020:1-9.
27. Soraci P, Ferrari A, Abbiati FA, Del Fante E, De Pace R, Urso A, et al. Validation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Italian Version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2020:1-10.
28. Taylor S, Landry CA, Paluszek MM, Fergus TA, McKay D, Asmundson GJG. Development and initial validation of the COVID Stress Scales. J Anxiety Disord. 2020;72:102232.
2. Cascella M, Rajnik M, Cuomo A, Dulebohn SC, Di Napoli R. Features, Evaluation, and Treatment of Coronavirus (COVID-19). StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing Copyright © 2020, StatPearls Publishing LLC.; 2020.
3. Bults M, Beaujean DJ, Richardus JH, Voeten HA. Perceptions and behavioral responses of the general public during the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic: a systematic review. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2015;9(2):207-19.
4. Betancourt TS, Brennan RT, Vinck P, VanderWeele TJ, Spencer-Walters D, Jeong J, et al. Associations between Mental Health and Ebola-Related Health Behaviors: A Regionally Representative Cross-sectional Survey in Post-conflict Sierra Leone. PLoS Med. 2016;13(8):e1002073.
5. Paek H-J, Hove T. Risk perceptions and risk characteristics. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication2017.
6. Wellman CL, Bangasser DA, Bollinger JL, Coutellier L, Logrip ML, Moench KM, et al. Sex Differences in Risk and Resilience: Stress Effects on the Neural Substrates of Emotion and Motivation. J Neurosci. 2018;38(44):9423-32.
7. Ferrer R, Klein WM. Risk perceptions and health behavior. Curr Opin Psychol. 2015;5:85-9.
8. Asmundson GJ, Abramowitz JS, Richter AA, Whedon M. Health anxiety: current perspectives and future directions. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2010;12(4):306-12.
9. Blakey SM, Abramowitz JS. Psychological Predictors of Health Anxiety in Response to the Zika Virus. J Clin Psychol Med Settings. 2017;24(3-4):270-8.
10. Kim Y, Zhong W, Jehn M, Walsh L. Public risk perceptions and preventive behaviors during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2015;9(2):145-54.
11. Olatunji BO, Etzel EN, Tomarken AJ, Ciesielski BG, Deacon B. The effects of safety behaviors on health anxiety: an experimental investigation. Behav Res Ther. 2011;49(11):719-28.
12. Deacon B, Maack DJ. The effects of safety behaviors on the fear of contamination: an experimental investigation. Behav Res Ther. 2008;46(4):537-47.
13. Ahorsu DK, Lin CY, Imani V, Saffari M, Griffiths MD, Pakpour AH. The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Development and Initial Validation. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2020:1-9.
14. Taylor S, Landry CA, Paluszek MM, Fergus TA, McKay D, Asmundson GJG. Development and initial validation of the COVID Stress Scales. J Anxiety Disord. 2020;72:102232.
15. Lee SA. Coronavirus Anxiety Scale: A brief mental health screener for COVID-19 related anxiety. Death Stud. 2020;44(7):393-401.
16. Ahorsu DK, Lin CY, Imani V, Saffari M, Griffiths MD, Pakpour AH. The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Development and Initial Validation. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2020:1-9.
17. Noorbala AA, Faghihzadeh S, Kamali K, Bagheri Yazdi SA, Hajebi A, Mousavi MT, et al. Mental Health Survey of the Iranian Adult Population in 2015. Arch Iran Med. 2017;20(3):128-34.
18. Nazifi M, Mokarami H, Akbaritabar A, FarajiKujerdi M, Tabrizi R, Rahi A. Reliability, validity and factor structure of the persian translation of general health questionnire (ghq-28) in hospitals of kerman university of medical sciences. Journal of Fasa University of Medical Sciences. 2014;3(4):336-42.
19. Abramowitz JS, Deacon BJ, Valentiner DP. The Short Health Anxiety Inventory: Psychometric Properties and Construct Validity in a Non-clinical Sample. Cognit Ther Res. 2007;31(6):871-83.
20. Shahidi S, Molaie A, Dehghani M. Relationship between health anxiety and alexithymia in an Iranian sample. Procedia Soc Behav Sci. 2012;46:591-5.
21. Andrews G, Slade T. Interpreting scores on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Aust N Z J Public Health. 2001;25(6):494-7.
22. Christianson S, Marren J. The Impact of Event Scale - Revised (IES-R). Medsurg Nurs. 2012;21(5):321-2.
23. Panaghi L, Mogadam JA. Persian version validation in impact of event Scale-Revised. Tehran Univ Med J. 2006;64(3):52-60.
24. Weiss DS. The impact of event scale: revised. In Cross-cultural assessment of psychological trauma and PTSD: Springer; 2007. p. 219-38.
25. Creamer M, Bell R, Failla S. Psychometric properties of the Impact of Event Scale - Revised. Behav Res Ther. 2003;41(12):1489-96.
26. Satici B, Gocet-Tekin E, Deniz ME, Satici SA. Adaptation of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Its Association with Psychological Distress and Life Satisfaction in Turkey. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2020:1-9.
27. Soraci P, Ferrari A, Abbiati FA, Del Fante E, De Pace R, Urso A, et al. Validation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Italian Version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2020:1-10.
28. Taylor S, Landry CA, Paluszek MM, Fergus TA, McKay D, Asmundson GJG. Development and initial validation of the COVID Stress Scales. J Anxiety Disord. 2020;72:102232.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 15 No 4 (2020) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/ijps.v15i4.4293 | |
| PMCID | PMC7610071 | |
| PMID | 33240377 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Pandemic Risk Perception Safety Behaviors Scale | ||
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
How to Cite
1.
Mohammadi MR, Zarafshan H, Khayam Bashi S, Khaleghi A. How to Assess Perceived Risks and Safety Behaviors Related to Pandemics; Developing the Pandemic Risk and Reaction Scale during the Covid-19 Outbreak. Iran J Psychiatry. 2020;15(4):274-285.
