Development of the COVID-19-Anxiety Questionnaire and first psychometric testing

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may cause psychological distress in the general population and has the potential to cause anxiety regarding COVID-19. No validated questionnaires exist for the measurement of specific COVID-19 anxiety. We modified the DSM 5 - Severity Measure for Specific Phobia-Adult scale specifically for anxiety regarding COVID-19, and report the psychometric properties from an online study with 6262 participants from the general population in Germany. We analysed internal consistency as well as concordant validity. The scale showed good internal consistency (alpha = 0.86) and good concordant validity (r(s)=0.60) with the 2-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder measure and r(s)=0.61 with self-rating of limitations in daily life caused by COVID-19 anxiety.