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Development and initial validation of the COVID Stress Scales

Research and clinical observations suggest that during times of pandemic many people exhibit stress- or anxiety-related responses that include fear of becoming infected, fear of coming into contact with possibly contaminated objects or surfaces, fear of foreigners who might be carrying infection (i....

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Taylor, Steven, Landry, Caeleigh A., Paluszek, Michelle M., Fergus, Thomas A., McKay, Dean, Asmundson, Gordon J.G.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7198206/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32408047
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102232
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author Taylor, Steven
Landry, Caeleigh A.
Paluszek, Michelle M.
Fergus, Thomas A.
McKay, Dean
Asmundson, Gordon J.G.
author_facet Taylor, Steven
Landry, Caeleigh A.
Paluszek, Michelle M.
Fergus, Thomas A.
McKay, Dean
Asmundson, Gordon J.G.
author_sort Taylor, Steven
collection PubMed
description Research and clinical observations suggest that during times of pandemic many people exhibit stress- or anxiety-related responses that include fear of becoming infected, fear of coming into contact with possibly contaminated objects or surfaces, fear of foreigners who might be carrying infection (i.e., disease-related xenophobia), fear of the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic, compulsive checking and reassurance-seeking regarding possible pandemic-related threats, and traumatic stress symptoms about the pandemic (e.g., nightmares, intrusive thoughts). We developed the 36-item COVID Stress Scales (CSS) to measure these features, as they pertain to COVID-19. The CSS were developed to better understand and assess COVID-19-related distress. The scales were intentionally designed so they could be readily adapted for future pandemics. The CSS were developed and initially validated in population-representative samples from Canada (N = 3479) and the United States (N = 3375). A stable 5-factor solution was identified, corresponding to scales assessing COVID-related stress and anxiety symptoms: (1) Danger and contamination fears, (2) fears about economic consequences, (3) xenophobia, (4) compulsive checking and reassurance seeking, and (5) traumatic stress symptoms about COVID-19. The scales performed well on various indices of reliability and validity. The scales were intercorrelated, providing evidence of a COVID Stress Syndrome. The scales offer promise as tools for better understanding the distress associated with COVID-19 and for identifying people in need of mental health services.
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spelling pubmed-71982062020-05-05 Development and initial validation of the COVID Stress Scales Taylor, Steven Landry, Caeleigh A. Paluszek, Michelle M. Fergus, Thomas A. McKay, Dean Asmundson, Gordon J.G. J Anxiety Disord Article Research and clinical observations suggest that during times of pandemic many people exhibit stress- or anxiety-related responses that include fear of becoming infected, fear of coming into contact with possibly contaminated objects or surfaces, fear of foreigners who might be carrying infection (i.e., disease-related xenophobia), fear of the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic, compulsive checking and reassurance-seeking regarding possible pandemic-related threats, and traumatic stress symptoms about the pandemic (e.g., nightmares, intrusive thoughts). We developed the 36-item COVID Stress Scales (CSS) to measure these features, as they pertain to COVID-19. The CSS were developed to better understand and assess COVID-19-related distress. The scales were intentionally designed so they could be readily adapted for future pandemics. The CSS were developed and initially validated in population-representative samples from Canada (N = 3479) and the United States (N = 3375). A stable 5-factor solution was identified, corresponding to scales assessing COVID-related stress and anxiety symptoms: (1) Danger and contamination fears, (2) fears about economic consequences, (3) xenophobia, (4) compulsive checking and reassurance seeking, and (5) traumatic stress symptoms about COVID-19. The scales performed well on various indices of reliability and validity. The scales were intercorrelated, providing evidence of a COVID Stress Syndrome. The scales offer promise as tools for better understanding the distress associated with COVID-19 and for identifying people in need of mental health services. The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. 2020-05 2020-05-04 /pmc/articles/PMC7198206/ /pubmed/32408047 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102232 Text en © 2020 The Author(s) Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.
spellingShingle Article
Taylor, Steven
Landry, Caeleigh A.
Paluszek, Michelle M.
Fergus, Thomas A.
McKay, Dean
Asmundson, Gordon J.G.
Development and initial validation of the COVID Stress Scales
title Development and initial validation of the COVID Stress Scales
title_full Development and initial validation of the COVID Stress Scales
title_fullStr Development and initial validation of the COVID Stress Scales
title_full_unstemmed Development and initial validation of the COVID Stress Scales
title_short Development and initial validation of the COVID Stress Scales
title_sort development and initial validation of the covid stress scales
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7198206/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32408047
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102232
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