Fear at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: validation of the Arabic version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire among Saudi-based respondents
Background The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented stress and fear throughout the world. Aims To evaluate the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Saudi public, and to examine the performance of the Arabic version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire (4DSQ) scale....
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2021-01-01
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| Series: | BJPsych Open |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472420001660/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1811156909696221184 |
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| author | Abdulaziz I Aljemaiah Mugtaba Osman Sarah Alharbi Randa Alshehri Esraa Mansoer Aldggag Alaa Talal Aljoudi Dina Smail Abdulsomad Mohammed Abdulghani Fawaz Alotaibi |
| author_facet | Abdulaziz I Aljemaiah Mugtaba Osman Sarah Alharbi Randa Alshehri Esraa Mansoer Aldggag Alaa Talal Aljoudi Dina Smail Abdulsomad Mohammed Abdulghani Fawaz Alotaibi |
| author_sort | Abdulaziz I Aljemaiah |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented stress and fear throughout the world.
Aims
To evaluate the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Saudi public, and to examine the performance of the Arabic version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire (4DSQ) scale.
Method
We conducted an online questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey of a sample of the Saudi public.
Results
The study included 347 participants, who reported significantly higher levels of distress, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and somatisation compared with a normative sample. Females scored higher in terms of somatisation, depression and anxiety symptoms, and distress. Obtaining COVID-19 information from friends and relatives was associated with higher levels of somatisation, depression and anxiety symptoms, and distress. Cronbach's alpha was 0.93 for the distress scale, 0.88 for the depression scale, 0.88 for the anxiety scale and 0.86 for the somatisation scale.
Conclusions
Levels of psychological distress were high among the Saudi public during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found high reliability for the Arabic version of the 4DSQ scale. However, three items did not conform to the four-factor structure, namely, item 1: ‘During the past week, did you suffer from dizziness or feeling light-headed?’, item 20: ‘During the past week, did you suffer from disturbed sleep?’ and item 46: ‘During the past week did you ever think I wish I was dead?’.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:59:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-51985937275442708846d6c0947a4d6f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2056-4724 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:59:02Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BJPsych Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-51985937275442708846d6c0947a4d6f2023-03-09T12:29:06ZengCambridge University PressBJPsych Open2056-47242021-01-01710.1192/bjo.2020.166Fear at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: validation of the Arabic version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire among Saudi-based respondentsAbdulaziz I Aljemaiah0Mugtaba Osman1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5170-6199Sarah Alharbi2Randa Alshehri3Esraa Mansoer Aldggag4Alaa Talal Aljoudi5Dina Smail Abdulsomad6Mohammed Abdulghani7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1245-6289Fawaz Alotaibi8Armed Forces Center for Psychiatric Care, Taif, Saudi ArabiaArmed Forces Center for Psychiatric Care, Taif, Saudi ArabiaArmed Forces Center for Psychiatric Care, Taif, Saudi ArabiaArmed Forces Center for Psychiatric Care, Taif, Saudi ArabiaArmed Forces Center for Psychiatric Care, Taif, Saudi ArabiaArmed Forces Center for Psychiatric Care, Taif, Saudi ArabiaArmed Forces Center for Psychiatric Care, Taif, Saudi ArabiaArmed Forces Center for Psychiatric Care, Taif, Saudi Arabia; and Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, EgyptArmed Forces Center for Psychiatric Care, Taif, Saudi ArabiaBackground The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented stress and fear throughout the world. Aims To evaluate the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Saudi public, and to examine the performance of the Arabic version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire (4DSQ) scale. Method We conducted an online questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey of a sample of the Saudi public. Results The study included 347 participants, who reported significantly higher levels of distress, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and somatisation compared with a normative sample. Females scored higher in terms of somatisation, depression and anxiety symptoms, and distress. Obtaining COVID-19 information from friends and relatives was associated with higher levels of somatisation, depression and anxiety symptoms, and distress. Cronbach's alpha was 0.93 for the distress scale, 0.88 for the depression scale, 0.88 for the anxiety scale and 0.86 for the somatisation scale. Conclusions Levels of psychological distress were high among the Saudi public during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found high reliability for the Arabic version of the 4DSQ scale. However, three items did not conform to the four-factor structure, namely, item 1: ‘During the past week, did you suffer from dizziness or feeling light-headed?’, item 20: ‘During the past week, did you suffer from disturbed sleep?’ and item 46: ‘During the past week did you ever think I wish I was dead?’. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472420001660/type/journal_article4DSQ testArabicCOVID-19validationdepressionanxiety |
| spellingShingle | Abdulaziz I Aljemaiah Mugtaba Osman Sarah Alharbi Randa Alshehri Esraa Mansoer Aldggag Alaa Talal Aljoudi Dina Smail Abdulsomad Mohammed Abdulghani Fawaz Alotaibi Fear at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: validation of the Arabic version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire among Saudi-based respondents BJPsych Open 4DSQ test Arabic COVID-19 validation depression anxiety |
| title | Fear at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: validation of the Arabic version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire among Saudi-based respondents |
| title_full | Fear at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: validation of the Arabic version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire among Saudi-based respondents |
| title_fullStr | Fear at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: validation of the Arabic version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire among Saudi-based respondents |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fear at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: validation of the Arabic version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire among Saudi-based respondents |
| title_short | Fear at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: validation of the Arabic version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire among Saudi-based respondents |
| title_sort | fear at the time of the covid 19 pandemic validation of the arabic version of the four dimensional symptom questionnaire among saudi based respondents |
| topic | 4DSQ test Arabic COVID-19 validation depression anxiety |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472420001660/type/journal_article |
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