Scales For Measuring Beliefs About Coronavirus and Behaviors in Coronavirus Pandemic: Adaptation and Validation

Abstract

A hundred years after the Spanish flu pandemic, the world faces a new similar threat in the form of COVID-19. During this time, culture, technology, medicine, the political regimes of many societies have changed dramatically, the Internet has appeared, information and knowledge are more easily accessible than ever. However, have people achieved a deeper change in the way they react when placed in a life-threatening situation? Do they behave in a more competent and rational way or do they rely on old and stereotypically established behaviors? Such issues are relevant not only for Bulgaria. The two presented questionnaires were used in the large international project „COVID-19, personality and quality of life: Selfenhancement in the time of a pandemic“. They are designed to measure some misbeliefs, including levels of magical (or, perhaps more precisely in this specific case, naïve) and conspiratorial beliefs about COVID-19, and to describe typical behaviors related to prevention and to social support. The adapted total of 5 scales have good psychometric qualities, the expected correlations with content-related constructs are confirmed. The obtained results give solid evidence that the questionnaires are reliable, valid and appropriate and adequate for use in the Bulgarian socio-cultural environment.