Psychometric properties of pandemic awareness scale for students aged 8–12: The case of COVID-19

It is very important to show awareness in order to reduce the health risks posed by pandemics. In Turkey, primary and secondary schools, which were kept closed until September 2021 due to COVID-19, were reopened and students were expected to show awareness to avoid contamination. Therefore, it became even more important to reveal the awareness level of these students. In this study, it was aimed to develop a tool that could measure the awareness of the pandemic in general, and the awareness of COVID-19 in particular, of 8–12 year-old students. For this purpose, the data of the study were obtained during the period when primary and secondary schools in Turkey started face-to-face education (15 September 2021–15 October 2021). The data of the study were gathered from 466 primary (3rd and 4th grades) and secondary school (5th, 6th and 7th grades) students studying in different cities (13 cities) of Turkey, districts and villages of these city centers. The data were randomly divided into two equal data sets. Parallel and exploratory factor analysis were performed with the first data set. As a result of analysis, a single factor model with 12-item was obtained that explained approximately 44% of the variances. This model was tested with confirmatory factor analysis using the second data set. As a result of the tests, it was found that the model fitted well (RMSEA = 0.073, SRMR = 0.050, CFI = 0.93, TLI = 0.91 and GFI = 0.93) and a tool Pandemic Awareness Scale (PAS) was reached. In addition, it was seen that the scale showed measurement invariance in terms of gender, and partial measurement invariance according to school type. It was found that the reliability of the scores obtained from the scale was high. With this scale, COVID-19 awareness of students aged 8–12 could be measured, as well as the awareness of the same age group in pandemics with similar characteristics.