Reliability and Validity of the COVID -19 Anxiety scale in a Sample of Greek Medical Doctors

Chalkias PL1,2*, Charalampopoulou M2,3, Michou M2,4, Dedemadi G5, Zografos GC3, Bacopoulou F6, Chrousos G7 and Darviri C2

1Department of Plastic Surgery, General Oncology Hospital – Agioi Anargyroi, Athens, Greece
2“The Science of Stress and Health Promotion”, Medical School of Athens, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
3First Department of Propaedeutic Surgery, Hippokration Hospital, Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece
4Department of Economics & Sustainable Development, Human Ecology Laboratory, Harokopio University, Greece
5Department of General Surgery, General Hospital Amalia Fleming of Melissia, Greece
6University Research Institute of Maternal and Child Health & Precision Medicine, and UNESCO Chair on Adolescent Health Care, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, Greece
7University Research Institute of Maternal and Child Health and Precision Medicine and UNESCO Chair in Adolescent Health Care, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

^*Correspondance to: Petros-Loukas Chalkias 

 PDF  Full Text DOI: 10.25107/2474-1647.3627

Abstract

Background: During recent COVID-19 pandemic, health professionals were faced with a tremendous workload and had to make difficult decisions. As in similar pandemics in the past, health professionals had reported anxiety, low mood and increased stress, resulting in psychological distress. Aim: This study aimed to examine the validity and the reliability of a new measurement tool, the COVID-19 anxiety questionnaire in the Greek medical doctors. The tool aimed to assess distress in doctors who worked in hospital during COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Depression Anxiety Stress scale (DASS) were used together with the COVID-19 anxiety scale. Also, certain sociodemographic characteristics were assessed. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to identify possible factors from C-19 Anxiety scale. Cronbach’s a and Spearman’s rho were also used. Results: The sample consisted of 179 Greek medical doctors (87.2% males) with mean age 50.73 years. The results of EFA results indicated only one factor for the COVID-19 Anxiety scale (2 questions were excluded from the final factor due to small loadings) which explained the 65.38% of total variance. Cronbach’s a was 0.967 and COVID-19 anxiety scale was positively correlated with PSS-14 (p<0.001) and the 2 subscales of DASS-21 (Stress and Depression) (p<0.001 for both subscales), while it was negatively correlated with DASS-Anxiety (p<0.05). Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that the Greek version of C-19 Anxiety questionnaire has good psychometric properties and can be safely used in future studies.

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Cite the article

Chalkias PL, Charalampopoulou M, Michou M, Dedemadi G, Zografos GC, Bacopoulou F, et al. Reliability and Validity of the COVID -19 Anxiety scale in a Sample of Greek Medical Doctors. Clin Surg. 2023; 8: 3627.