Developing a Scale of Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Among Physicians, Nurses, and the General Public

Rouibah, Aouali; Zaatout, Ramdan

مجلة العلوم القانونية والاجتماعية
Volume 11, Numéro 1, Pages 42-55
2026-03-01

Developing A Scale Of Attitudes Toward Covid-19 Among Physicians, Nurses, And The General Public

Authors : Rouibah Aouali . Zaatout Ramdan .

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a challenge that requires a precise understanding of the psychological structures that guide preventive behaviors. Attitude toward the pandemic, with its multiple dimensions, is considered a central construct. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive scale to measure attitudes toward COVID-19, following a rigorous methodology that included item generation, expert validation, and preliminary analysis. The scale was then administered to a sample of 64 individuals distributed across three groups (physicians, nurses, and the general public). Validity and reliability tests were used to verify the factorial structure of the scale and to assess its measurement stability. The validity results confirmed that the data fit well with the theoretical model consisting of three (03) dimensions. Internal consistency of the scale was calculated, and the correlation coefficients (r) of the dimensions with the overall scale were statistically significant at the 0.01 level. The correlation coefficients of the items with their respective dimensions were significant at either the 0.01 or 0.05 level, while some were non-significant. Accordingly, items that showed low or negative correlation coefficients were removed. Discriminant validity using the extreme group comparison showed that the calculated t-value was (-14.64), with a significance level (sig = 0.000), indicating a statistically significant result at the 0.01 level. This demonstrates that the scale has adequate discriminative power to measure what it was designed to measure, thereby confirming its acceptable validity. Reliability results also confirmed that the scale yields stable estimates. The split-half reliability coefficient (Pearson’s r) was estimated at (0.68), while the corrected value using the Spearman–Brown formula was estimated at (0.81). The Cronbach’s alpha values for the dimensions of the COVID-19 attitude scale were estimated at (0.625) for the cognitive dimension, (0.659) for the affective dimension, and (0.787) for the behavioral dimension. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the scale as a whole was estimated at (0.822). Accordingly, the scale can be considered to have acceptable reliability. This scale constitutes a reliable and valid instrument for assessing attitudes toward COVID-19, as well as for measuring and interpreting differences in behavioral attitudes between health professionals and the general public.