Reliability and Psychometric Validity of the Marathi Version of Corona Anxiety Scale

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 Anxiety Scale (CAS) was developed and validated in 2020 as a psychometrically suitable measure of anxiety incurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. Availability in English language limits its utility in our setting where majority are Marathi speaking. AIM: To establish reliability and validity of the Marathi adaptation of CAS. METHOD: CAS was translated by bilingual experts, followed by forward and backward translation processes. Final version was used. Eighty volunteers, versed in both English and Marathi languages were included. The original English version of the scale was first applied, followed by the Marathi translation, after a hiatus of 14 days. RESULT: Mean score of the original English version was 2.95 (±2.79) and that of the Marathi version was 2.80 (±2.76), showing significant correlation (0.001 level) with Kendall’s tau-b of 0.830. The Marathi version of CAS has a high degree of internal consistency as demonstrated by a Cronbach’s-alpha of 0.809. The scale has significant concurrent validity and acceptable split-half reliability. A principal components analysis with varimax rotation was performed on the CAS responses of the participants, which yielded one factor with an eigen value greater than one, representing 58.51% of the total variance. CAS was found to be easily understandable and capable of adequately evaluating and measuring various aspects of Corona anxiety. CONCLUSION: The Marathi version of CAS is a valid and reliable instrument to assess anxiety due to Corona virus in the Marathi speaking population of India.