Validity and reliability of a depression, anxiety and stress scale in Cuban dental students during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Autor(a) principal: Villegas-Maestre, Jose Daniel
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Pedraza-Rodríguez, Elys María, Corrales-Reyes, Ibraín Enrique, Carranza-Esteban, Renzo Felipe, Mamani-Benito, Oscar Javier
• Tipo de documento: preprint
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: SciELO Preprints
• Texto Completo: https://preprints.scielo.org/index.php/scielo/preprint/view/3308
• topic: estudos de validação; ansiedade; depressão; estresse; Estudantes de odontologia; mental saúde; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; estudos de validação; ansiedade; depressão; estresse; Estudantes de odontologia; mental saúde; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; validation studies; anxiety; depression; stress; Dentistry students; mental health; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; estudios de validación; ansiedad; depresión; estrés; Estudiantes de odontología; mental salud; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2

Introduction: An indisputable consequence has to do with the psychological impact of theCOVID-19 pandemic on health professionals and students. In Cuba, these psychologicalmanifestations have scarcely been investigated, and there are no reports in the dentalundergraduate program. Objective: To analyze the evidence of validity and reliability of ascale of depression, anxiety and stress in Cuban dental students in the context of COVID-19. Materials and Methods: An instrumental and cross-sectional study was carried out,which included students of all years and Cuban universities. A documentary measurementinstrument was validated, using its main psychometric evidence. Convergent validity wasanalyzed and reliability was estimated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Results: 301students were included, of which 74.09% were women and whose ages ranged from 17 to30 years. The asymmetry and kurtosis values of all items were adequate (> ± 1.5). Theconfirmatory factorial analysis showed that the factorial structure of 21 items distributed in3 factors is satisfactory. The goodness of fit indices was satisfactory. The scale factors aredirectly and significantly related. With Cronbach's α coefficient, the scale scores wereestimated to be reliable. Conclusions: the depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS-21)in Cuban dental students in the context of COVID-19 turned out to be valid and reliable, inaddition to allowing the evaluation of the dimensions of these three factors in this sector ofthe society.