Assessment of Obsessive Thoughts About COVID-19 in 7 Latin American Countries: Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Obsession With COVID-19 Scale

Tomás Caycho-Rodríguez, Renzo Rivera-Calcina, Lindsey W. Vilca, Carlos Carbajal-León, Pablo D. Valencia, Daniel E. Yupanqui-Lorenzo, Walter L. Arias Gallegos, Mario Reyes-Bossio, Nicol Oré-Kovacs, Claudio Rojas-Jara, Miguel Gallegos, Roberto Polanco-Carrasco, Mauricio Cervigni, Pablo Martino, Marlon Elías Lobos-Rivera, Rodrigo Moreta-Herrera, Diego Alejandro Palacios Segura, Antonio Samaniego-Pinho, Andrés Buschiazzo Figares, Diana Ximena Puerta-CortésAndrés Camargo, Julio Torales, J. Arkangel Monge Blanco, Pedronel González, Vanessa Smith-Castro, Olimpia Petzold-Rodriguez, Raymundo Calderón, Wendy Yamilet Matute Rivera, Daniela Ferrufino-Borja, Agueda Muñoz-del-Carpio-Toia, Jorge Palacios, Carmen Burgos-Videla, Ana María Eduviges Florez León, Ibeth Vergara, Diego Vega, Martin Noe-Grijalva, Marion K. Shulmeyer, Hassell Tatiana Urrutia Rios, Arelly Esther Lira Lira, Sherman A. Lee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the measurement invariance of the Obsession with COVID-19 Scale (OCS) among seven Latin American countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Although the OCS has been used in several countries and languages, there is a need for approaches that better integrate the cross-cultural equivalence of the scale. A total of 3185 people participated in the study. The results indicated the presence of a unidimensional structure and good reliability indices for the OCS in each country. The alignment method indicated that the OCS is an invariant measure of COVID-19 obsession among the populations of seven Latin American countries. The findings based on IRT analysis indicated that all OCS items had adequate discrimination and difficulty parameters. The findings contribute to the understanding of the internal structure of the scale in different countries at the same time, something that has been pending evaluation.

Original languageEnglish
JournalOmega (United States)
DOIs
StateAccepted/In press - 2023

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Latin America
  • alignment method
  • invariance
  • obsession

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