Proposal of a scale for COVID-19 stigma-discrimination toward health workers

Robust diagonally weighted least squares were used as the extraction method, with a tetrachoric correlation matrix for factor extraction; this method is specific for factor analysis of ordinal data.5 Internal consistency was tested using Kuder-Richardson’s coefficient,6 an equivalent of Cronbach’s alpha for a dichotomous answer,7 and McDonald’s omega.8 Factor analyses were done in the Factor Analysis program,9 and internal consistency was computed in Jamovi V.1.2.27.0.10Table 1 COVID-19 Stigma-Discrimination Toward Health Workers Scale Item Yes No 1. The Kuder-Richardson’s coefficient was 0.67, while the McDonald’s omega was 0.68.Table 2 Goodness-of-fit indicators Indicator Value Robust mean and variance-adjusted χ2 10.2, df=5, p=0.07 Root mean square error of approximation 0.03 (95% CI 0.00 to 0.05) Comparative fit index 0.99 Tucker-Lewis index 0.99 Weighted root mean square residual 0.02 (95% CI 0.01 to 0.03) Factor analysis is the best technique to construct health scales. The present investigation showed the scale on stigma-discrimination toward health personnel due to COVID-19 showed excellent goodness-of-fit indicators11 12 and acceptable internal consistency.13 It is crucial to have an instrument that measures stigma-discrimination toward health professionals during the COVID-19 epidemic as negative attitudes can affect healthcare-seeking and increase COVID-19 collateral damage.14 It also opens the possibility of stigma-discrimination persisting among professionals who work in areas with people with different types of infections.