The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of a Korean version of the 20-item COVID-19 phobia tool, which was developed through a translation-reverse translation process. These data were collected from 226 persons using a self-reported questionnaire. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to test construct validity. Finally, for 19 out of 20 items, the item-level convergence and differential validity were confirmed. In addition, the reliability and validity of the tool as a whole has been verified. For the subscales, Cronbach's α was 0.90 for psychological, 0.87 for psychosomatic, 0.86 for economic, and 0.87 for social. Appropriate reliability was confirmed. Correlations between the COVID-19 phobia tool and fear of COVID-19 confirmed validity. The Korean version of the COVID-19 phobia tool is an appropriate scale for measuring the fear of COVID-19 and relevant psychological characteristics. Therefore, future studies in areas such as health and nursing could use this tool as required.
Keywords: COVID-19; Korea; phobia; reliability; scale; validity.