The scale captures how worried a person feels across physical health, mental health, and economic dimensions during a societal crisis, developed specifically around the COVID-19 pandemic.
5-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree)
Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.
Verlegh et al. (2021) developed this scale by drawing on phrases common in media coverage of the COVID-19 crisis, then had a market research agency check the wording for clarity; used in a large Dutch survey (n = 5,393) and a smaller US Prolific experiment (n = 387), with items back-translated between English and Dutch. Reliability was good (α = .84–.85). Validity wasn't addressed. Worth noting: despite acceptable reliability, the scale appears to span at least three distinct dimensions — physical health, mental health, and economic concern — so its unidimensionality should be checked before relying on it as a single composite in theory testing.
Verlegh, Peeter W. J., Stefan F. Bernritter, Verena Gruber, Noud Schartman, and Francesca Sotgiu (2021), "‘Don’t Worry, We Are Here for You’: Brands as External Source of Control During the Covid-19 Pandemic," Journal of Advertising, 50 (3), 262–270.
Free access to 2500+ psychometric scales at PsychScales