Psychometric Properties of Persian Version of COVID-19 Burnout and Obsession Scales in Students during the Coronavirus 2019 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic caused various psychological and physical problems in many people around the world. In this regard, the present study was conducted to investigate the validity of the COVID-19 Burnout and Obsession Scales.

The method of this research was a descriptive-analytical evaluation study. The sample consisted of 350 (227 females and 123 males) students of Tehran universities in 2021 who were selected by the convenience sampling method and completed COVID-19 Burnout Scale, COVID-19 Obsession Scale, Mental Health, and Psychological Distress Questionnaires. Psychometric properties of COVID-19 Burnout and Obsession Scales were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis, divergent validity, concurrent validity, Pearson’s correlation, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient.

The one-factor structure of the COVID-19 Burnout Scale (comparative fit index; CFI=0.89, root mean square error; RMSE=0.07) and COVID-19 Obsession (CFI=0.92, RMSE=0.07) were investigated and confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis. In the study of concurrent and divergent criterion validity, the correlation of COVID-19 Burnout and Obsession Scales with the Psychological Distress Scale was positive and significant (p<0.001). The relationship between Burnout, Obsession, And Mental Health was also negative and significant (p<0.001). Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the Burnout and Obsession scores was obtained 0.91 and 0.82, respectively.

The findings indicate the structural validity and acceptable reliability of the COVID-19 Burnout and Obsession Scales, and the structure of these scales can be used to assess the severity of burnout and obsession during the coronavirus 2019 pandemic.