Psychometric Evaluation of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale Among Syrian Population

Abstract Fear is a common emotional reaction to an impending threat like the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus. A fear of COVID-19 Scale has been developed to evaluate the severity of COVID-19-related fear. This study investigated the psychometric characteristics a Syrian Arabic version of the scale to give additional validation for the Arabic FCV-19S. The fear of COVID-19 Scale was translated and validated in Syrian context. The sample is comprised of 1637 Syrian individuals, who have participated in this online survey. The results were compared with their responses to the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale and the Satisfaction with Life scale. Cronbach’s alpha for the Syrian version of the fear of COVID-19 scale was determined to 0.84. The scale’s ratings showed a significant negative relationship with life satisfaction and a significant positive association with sub-scales of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the Syrian version of the fear of COVID-19 Scale has a unidimensional structure which fits the data well. The scale has useful psychometric characteristics and can be employed to evaluate the severity of fear of COVID-19 among Syrian populations.