Validation of the Canadian French version of the fear of COVID-19 scale in the general population of Quebec

Background The purpose of this study was to develop a Canadian French translation of the fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S) and assess its psychometric characteristics. Methods A forward and backtranslation process was conducted for the Canadian French version of the FCV-19S. The guidance of the ISPOR task force for translation and cultural adaptation was followed and cognitive debriefing interviews were conducted with six citizens. The final proofread Canadian French FCV-19S was then administered to a large sample of citizens from the province of Quebec in Canada through an online survey. A quota sampling was conducted in 2020. Respondents from the survey also completed the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (CORE)-6D and the Sense of Coherence (SOC-3) questionnaires. Several psychometric tests were performed to investigate the reliability (internal consistency) and validity of the Canadian French FCV-19S, including construct validity, concurrent validity, and Rasch analysis. Results The translation process was conducted without any major difficulties. The cognitive debriefing interviews led to no change in the reconciled translation. The survey collected answers from 3428 citizens. Results indicated that the factor structure of the Canadian French FCV-19S is a unidimensional factor fitting well with the data. The scale showed adequate reliability (Cronbach's alpha of .903) and concurrent validity, as indicated by significantly negative correlation with CORE-6D (r = -.410) and SOC-3 (r = -.233). The Canadian French FCV-19S properties tested using Rasch analysis was also very satisfactory. Conclusions The results of the present study indicated that the Canadian French version of FCV-19S is a unidimensional tool with robust psychometric properties in the adult's population of all ages residing in the province of Quebec, Canada.