Dataset Information

Fear at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: validation of the Arabic version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire among Saudi-based respondents.

ABSTRACT:

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?'.

SUBMITTER: Aljemaiah AI

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7804080 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Fear at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: validation of the Arabic version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire among Saudi-based respondents.

Aljemaiah Abdulaziz I AI Osman Mugtaba M Alharbi Sarah S Alshehri Randa R Aldggag Esraa Mansoer EM Aljoudi Alaa Talal AT Abdulsomad Dina Smail DS Abdulghani Mohammed M Alotaibi Fawaz F

BJPsych open 20210112 1

<h4>Background</h4>The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented stress and fear throughout the world.<h4>Aims</h4>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.<h4>Method</h4>We conducted an online questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey of a sample of the Saudi public.<h4>Results</h4>The study included 347 participants, who reported significa ...[more]

PMID: 33431095

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Project description:BackgroundThe Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire (4DSQ) is a self-report questionnaire that has been developed in primary care to distinguish non-specific general distress from depression, anxiety and somatization. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate its criterion and construct validity.MethodsData from 10 different primary care studies have been used. Criterion validity was assessed by comparing the 4DSQ scores with clinical diagnoses, the GPs' diagnosis of any psychosocial problem for Distress, standardised psychiatric diagnoses for Depression and Anxiety, and GPs' suspicion of somatization for Somatization. ROC analyses and logistic regression analyses were used to examine the associations. Construct validity was evaluated by investigating the inter-correlations between the scales, the factorial structure, the associations with other symptom questionnaires, and the associations with stress, personality and social functioning. The factorial structure of the 4DSQ was assessed through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The associations with other questionnaires were assessed with Pearson correlations and regression analyses.ResultsRegarding criterion validity, the Distress scale was associated with any psychosocial diagnosis (area under the ROC curve [AUC] 0.79), the Depression scale was associated with major depression (AUC = 0.83), the Anxiety scale was associated with anxiety disorder (AUC = 0.66), and the Somatization scale was associated with the GPs' suspicion of somatization (AUC = 0.65). Regarding the construct validity, the 4DSQ scales appeared to have considerable inter-correlations (r = 0.35-0.71). However, 30-40% of the variance of each scale was unique for that scale. CFA confirmed the 4-factor structure with a comparative fit index (CFI) of 0.92. The 4DSQ scales correlated with most other questionnaires measuring corresponding constructs. However, the 4DSQ Distress scale appeared to correlate with some other depression scales more than the 4DSQ Depression scale. Measures of stress (i.e. life events, psychosocial problems, and work stress) were mainly associated with Distress, while Distress, in turn, was mainly associated with psychosocial dysfunctioning, including sick leave.ConclusionThe 4DSQ seems to be a valid self-report questionnaire to measure distress, depression, anxiety and somatization in primary care patients. The 4DSQ Distress scale appears to measure the most general, most common, expression of psychological problems.

Dataset Information

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

Aims

Method

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Fear at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: validation of the Arabic version of the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire among Saudi-based respondents.

Similar Datasets

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