Elsevier

Journal of Affective Disorders

Volume 295, 1 December 2021, Pages 1131-1137
Journal of Affective Disorders

Research paper
Measuring COVID-19 related anxiety and obsession: Validation of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale and the Obsession with COVID-19 Scale in a probability Chinese sample

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.08.104Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Both CAS and OCS have a unidimensional structure in its Chinese version.

  • Both CAS and OCS showed measurement invariance across genders in Chinese adults.

  • At-risk COVID-19 anxiety and obsession cases reported more adverse health outcomes.

  • CAS and OCS offer quick and valid screen for at-risk COVID-19 anxiety and obsession.

  • CAS and OCS may facilitate early identification and cost-effective interventions.

Abstract

Background

With concern over the rise in mental health symptoms associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the present study set out to address the absence of pandemic-specific screening tools for detecting those in Chinese societies who are at-risk for experiencing mental distress due to the pandemic; thus, its aim was to validate the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) and Obsession with COVID-19 Scale (OCS) in Chinese adults.

Methods

With a two-stage cluster random sampling method, we surveyed 1011 Chinese community-dwelling adults (38.8% men; 41.2 years old on average with an SD of 15.8) in June and July of 2020.

Results

Our psychometric evaluation results showed that the Chinese version of CAS and OCS retained their original one-dimensional structure and demonstrated measurement invariance across genders. In line with validation studies of the CAS and OCS in other languages, subsequent analyses also provided support to our Chinese version with respect to their satisfactory internal consistency (α = .87 and .73, respectively), and good concurrent validity (i.e., positive associations with negative feelings, excessive time-consumption, subjective distress, and functioning impairment).

Limitations

Due to constraints of time and cross-sectional design, we only validated CAS and OCS among Chinese adults and did not evaluate their test-retest reliability nor predictive validity.

Conclusions

Considering the practical benefits of understanding the source of mental symptoms during the pandemic, we recommend the use of CAS and OCS in Chinese communities to facilitate early identification and intervention for those who require clinical attention due to their COVID-19 related anxiety and obsessive thoughts.

Keywords

COVID-19
Coronavirus
Pandemic
Anxiety
Obsession
Assessment
Mental health

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