Psychological Impact of COVID-19: Validity and Reliability of the Turkish Fear of Illness and Virus Evaluation(FIVE) Scale.

Background: During the Coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic, various scales were developed to assess mental health issues linked to the virus. This study aimed to determine the validity and reliability of the Turkish adaptation of the Fear of Illness and Virus Evaluation (FIVE)-Adult Report Form (ARF).

Methods: Individuals aged 18 and above who consented to participate were given access to the questionnaire after being informed about the study's objectives. Authorization for the translation was obtained from the original form's creator.

Results: A total of 466 participants took part in the study. The explanatory factor analysis revealed that items 1-9 assessed fears related to contamination and illness, items 10-19 focused on fears concerning social distancing, and items 20-33 addressed behaviors associated with fears of disease and viruses. Items 34 and 35, which measured the impact of illness and virus fears, were found to load onto the factor related to fears of contamination and illness. The scale explained 44.5% of the total variance. The internal consistency reliability coefficients were 0.902 for the contamination and illness fears subscale, 0.905 for the social distancing fears subscale, 0.777 for behaviors related to illness and virus fears, and 0.916 for the scale.

Conclusion: The findings indicate that the Turkish adaptation of the FIVE-ARF has a 3-factor structure and demonstrates strong validity and reliability for use within the Turkish population.