Fear of COVID-19: A risk factor for PTSD in bereaved individuals?
Year: 2021
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Introduction: COVID-19 has been spreading rapidly throughout the world, accompanied by a\nwave of fear of contagion with the disease. High fear of COVID-19 has shown to be associated\nwith high Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptomatology in the general population. As\nthe bereaved are at a high risk of developing PTSD, it is the aim of this study to determine\nwhether fear of COVID-19 moderates the association between PTSD symptom levels in\nbereaved people at two measurement occasions, namely before (T1) and during (T2) the\npandemic. To assess the severity of fear towards COVID-19, the newly developed Fear of\nCOVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) was used and validated.\nMethods: At T1 and T2, data of 433 and 130 bereaved adults were collected. The final sample\nconsisted of 127 participants who took part in both measurement occasions. To assess fear of\nCOVID-19 and PTSD symptom levels, the FCV-19S and the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder\nChecklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) were used. Data analyses included a Principal Component\nAnalysis (PCA) and a multiple regression analysis with interaction term.\nResults: The FCV-19S showed to have high reliability and validity as demonstrated by its\ninternal consistency (α = .85) and strong one-factor solution. The moderation analysis showed\nthat fear of COVID-19 did not significantly affect the association between PTSD symptom\nlevels at T1 and T2 (β = .05, t(126) = .91, p = .36).\nDiscussion: The psychometric testing demonstrated that the FCV-19S was a reliable and valid\ntool for assessing the severity of fear of COVID-19. Fear of COVID-19 did not show to be a\nrisk factor for increased PTSD symptomatology in bereaved individuals during the COVID-19\npandemic. Further research is essential to determine how bereaved individuals fear COVID-19\nin order to provide them with adequate mental health support during the current pandemic.
Author: J.T. Schatz
Language: English
Topic: COVID-19 and Mental Health
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3190165535