Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic might have impacted the psychological well-being of children and adolescents in Poland. The epidemiological situation is constantly changing and it is difficult to predict its further course. There are ongoing discussions about the possible benefits and consequences of children returning to school. For this reason, it is justified to develop a Polish version of an uncomplicated and easy-to-use diagnostic tool for fear assessment, which will enable the identification of children requiring special psychological support. The aim of the study was to develop the Polish adaptation of the recently published Fear of COVID-19 Scale and to examine the psychometric properties of the Polish version among the population of children and adolescents.
Methods: The sample included 167 participants aged 10 to 17 years. On-line surveys were conducted in three groups - patients with a psychiatric diagnosis, students and children from group homes.
Results: The analysis of the collected data showed that the Polish version of the FCV-19S has good psychometric properties. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the one-way structure of the scale. The reliability of the total score proved satisfactory (Cronbach's α = 0.831). In addition, group comparison analyzes showed that children from group homes reported highest fear of coronavirus.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that the Polish version of the FCV-19 Scale is a valid and reliable tool which can be used in the psychological assessment of the severity of fear of COVID-19 among children and adolescent.
Keywords: COVID–19 pandemic; child and adolescent psychiatry; psychiatric disorders.