Background: The emergence of the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2,
which causes COVID-19 disease, has been a major public health challenge and an increase in
the feeling of uncertainty of the population, who is also experiencing an increase in levels of anxiety
and fear regarding the COVID-19 disease.
Objective: The objective of the study was the construct and criterion validation of the Escala de
evaluación de la Ansiedad y MIedo a COVID-19 (AMICO, for its acronym in Spanish) to measure both
constructs in the general Spanish population
Methods: Descriptive study of psychometric validation. A field study was carried out to execute
univariate and bivariate analyses, in addition to the exploratory and confirmatory factorial analysis of the scale. For the criteria validity study, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and sensitivity and
specificity values were calculated.
Results: The study sample was composed of 1036 subjects over 18 years of age, who resided in
Spain, where 56.3% were women with a mean age of 48.11 years (SD =15.13). The study of construct
validity reported two factors and 16 items, with a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.92. The scale
was concurrently valid with the used gold standard and obtained sensitivity values of 90.48% and
specificity values of 76%.
Conclusions: The AMICO scale is valid and reliable for assessing the level of anxiety and fear of
COVID-19 in the adult Spanish population and is highly sensitive.
