Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the “COVID Stress Scales” in Greek

Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, several instruments were developed to measure the psychological impact of COVID-19, such as fear, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, phobia, etc. Objective To adapt cross-cultural and validate the “COVID Stress Scales” in Greek. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study with 200 participants between November 2021 to February 2022. All participants were adults, and a convenience sample was obtained. We applied the forward-backward translation method to create a Greek version of the “COVID Stress Scales”. We assessed reliability of the questionnaire with test-retest method in a 10-day window, and we assessed validity of the questionnaire with exploratory factor analysis. Results Our five-factor model explained 72% of the variance and totally confirmed the factors of the initial “COVID Stress Scales”. In particular, we found the following five factors: (a) COVID-19 danger and contamination (eleven items), (b) COVID-19 socioeconomic consequences (six items), (c) COVID-19 xenophobia (six items), (d) COVID-19 traumatic stress (six items), and (e) COVID-19 compulsive checking (six items). Cronbach’s coefficients alpha for the five factors that emerged from the exploratory factor analysis were greater than 0.89 indicating excellent internal reliability. Conclusions We found that the “COVID Stress Scales” is a reliable and valid tool to measure stress due to the COVID-19 in the Greek population.