The perceived impact of pandemic scale (PIPS): Initial development and examination among U.S. military veterans.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Pergamon Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0376331 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1879-1379 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00223956 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Psychiatr Res Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: Oxford : Pergamon Press
    • Subject Terms:
      Veterans* ; COVID-19*/epidemiology; Humans ; Pandemics ; Reproducibility of Results ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Psychometrics
    • Abstract:
      The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impacts, including increases in mental health problems, distress, interpersonal conflict, unemployment, loss of income, housing instability, and food insecurity. Veterans may be particularly vulnerable to such impacts given their burden of mental and physical health problems. Few existing measures assess pandemic impact, and none have been validated for use with Veterans. We developed such a measure (the Perceived Impact of the Pandemic Scale; PIPS) and examined its psychometric performance in a national sample of US Veterans. Survey data from 567 Veterans were collected between 12/2020 and 2/2021. To examine PIPS factor structure, split sample exploratory/confirmatory factor analyses (EFA/CFA) were conducted to identify and test the most plausible model among an initial set of 18 items. Based on tests of factor extraction and factor loadings, 15 items clearly loaded onto three distinct factors. Internal reliability of all factors was ω > 0.8 and CFA model fit was good (χ 2 (87) = 167.39, p < .001; SRMR = 0.068; RMSEA = 0.060 [95% CI: 0.05, 0.07], CFI = 0.92). Mean factor scores were significantly positively correlated with measures of depression and loneliness, and negatively correlated with perceived social support. Results suggest the PIPS assesses three internally reliable factors comprised of perceived impact of the pandemic on interpersonal relationships, financial impact, and personal health and well-being. Construct validity with US Veterans was supported. The PIPS may be useful for examining the potentially disparate impact of pandemics on different populations. Research is needed to validate the PIPS in non-Veteran populations.
      Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors were employed by the VA while writing this manuscript. Authors have received grant funding from the VA Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention (Monteith, Hoffmire, Holliday, Schneider, Barnes), VA Health Services Research and Development (Monteith, Hoffmire, Holliday, Schneider), VA Rehabilitation Research and Development (Barnes), VA Office of Clinical Science Research and Development (Barnes), VA Office of Rural Health (Monteith, Schneider), VA National Center on Homelessness among Veterans (Holliday, Monteith), VA National Center for Patient Safety (Monteith, Hoffmire), VA Office of Women’s Health (Monteith), the National Institutes of Health (Brenner, Hoffmire, Holliday), the Department of Defense (Monteith, Hoffmire, Holliday), the American Psychological Association (Monteith, Holliday), and the State of Colorado (Hoffmire). The other authors (Kittel, Tock) report no conflicts of interest.
      (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: COVID-19; Factor analysis; Measurement; Pandemic; Perceived impact; Veterans
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20230726 Date Completed: 20230904 Latest Revision: 20230906
    • Publication Date:
      20240829
    • Accession Number:
      10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.06.037
    • Accession Number:
      37494749