Validity and reliability of the Arabic Fear of COVID-19 Scale in Lebanese people during the pandemic

While global attention is drawn to the somatic consequences of COVID-19, its psychological impact including fear and worry should be considered. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Lebanon, to cross-culturally adapt and validate the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) into the Arabic language among the Lebanese population. The study encompassed 712 Lebanese participants. Results showed that the A-FCV-19S has high internal consistency (alpha = .849). The exploratory factor analysis extracted a two-factor model explaining 68.428% of the total variance. As for the convergent validity, the A-FCV-19S total score significantly correlated with the HSCL-anxiety and HSCL-depression (r = .550 and .452, p-value < .0001 respectively). Thus, the findings indicate that the A-FCV-19S has acceptable psychometric properties and, therefore, it is a valid and reliable measure that can be used to evaluate and monitor the fear of COVID-19 among the general Lebanese population.