The Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-6 Items (SAVE-6) Scale: A New Instrument for Assessing the Anxiety Response of General Population to the Viral Epidemic During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Seockhoon Chung; Myung Hee Ahn; Sangha Lee; Solbi Kang; Sooyeon Suh; Yong-Wook Shin

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.669606

The Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-6 Items (SAVE-6) Scale: A New Instrument for Assessing the Anxiety Response of General Population to the Viral Epidemic During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Front Psychol. 2021 Jun 4:12:669606. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.669606. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Seockhoon Chung¹, Myung Hee Ahn², Sangha Lee³, Solbi Kang⁴, Sooyeon Suh⁴, Yong-Wook Shin¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, ASAN Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
² Division of Psychiatry, Health Screening and Promotion Center, ASAN Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Sungshin Women's University, Seoul, South Korea.

Abstract

The general population has reported experiencing anxiety due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explored the validity and utility of the Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-6 items (SAVE-6) scale for measuring the anxiety response of the general population to the viral epidemic. About 1,009 respondents participated in an online survey. Of these, 501 (49.7%) participants were rated as having at least a mild degree of anxiety response to the viral epidemic (SAVE-6 score ≥ 15), while 90 (8.9%) and 69 (6.8%) participants were rated as having moderate degree of depression and anxiety, respectively. The SAVE-6 scale showed a good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.815). Parallel analysis suggested a one-factor structure for the measure. The SAVE-6 scale was found to be a reliable, valid, and useful brief measure that can be applied to the general population.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety; general population; mental health; stress.