Content area
Full Text
India stands second in the world in terms of the number of Covid-19 cases, which is rapidly rising in Mumbai, the financial capital of India. Mumbai is a densely populated city where social distancing is a challenge. Fear of the disease and its impending consequences can lead to dysfunctional behaviors that could harm self and others. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire (FCOV-19) for identifying and measuring the sources of the fear of Covid-19. A questionnaire consisting of 10 items was designed and 400 respondents from Mumbai were recruited through online social media platforms. Exploratory factor analysis yielded two distinct factors. The factors-Health Fear and Precautionary Fear-were found to have adequate reliabilities. Validity assessment was also done and the scale was found to have acceptable psychometric properties. This scale is the contribution of this study, which can be used for further research on the fear of Covid-19 among the general population.
Key Words: Covid-19, Fear, Health, Precaution, Validity
INTRODUCTION
Covid-19 is a highly communicable disease that originated in late December 2019 in China and, is now a global pandemic with India occupying the second position with regards the number of active cases. In India, the state of Maharashtra, along with a few other states, contributes to more than 70% of the total cases in India. Mumbai, the financial capital of India contributes to more than 50% of cases in Maharashtra (Pathak, 2020). The novel corona virus is an unidentified strain that attacks human lungs via the respiratory tract or the conjunctiva with an average incubation period of five days. The mortality rate of the disease is lower (2-5%) as compared to SARS (9.5%) and MERS (34%) though all the three are caused by the same set of corona virus family. The symptoms of Covid-19 include fever, dry cough, muscular pain, headache and if not diagnosed in early stages could lead to severe shortness of breath and acute respiratory distress syndrome leading to hospitalizations with ventilation (Wu, Chen, and Chan, 2020). The first case was detected In India in March 2020. The Covid-19 was declared a pandemic by the WHO during this time and since then there has been a sharp increase in fears and anxieties towards the virus...