Research Department, Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross, P.O. Box 60096, Jal Eddib, Lebanon.
INSERM, CH Esquirol Limoges, IRD, U1094 Tropical Neuroepidemiology, Institute of Epidemiology and Tropical Neurology, GEIST, University of Limoges, Limoges, France.
BMC Psychol. 2021 Sep 8;9(1):137. doi: 10.1186/s40359-021-00643-1.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to prolonged exposure to stress and anxiety, raising concerns about a large spectrum of psychological side effects. The primary objective of the study was to validate the COVID-19 Bullying Scale (CBS-11). The second objective was to explore factors associated with COVID-19-related bullying and evaluate the mediating effect of fear and anxiety between knowledge and COVID-19-related bullying.
A cross-sectional online survey conducted between December 20, 2020, and January 5, 2021, recruited 405 Lebanese adults using a snowball sampling technique. The CBS-11, an 11-item tool specifically created for this study, was used to measure bullying behaviors towards COVID-19 patients.
All items of the CBS-11 converged over a 1-factor solution with an eigenvalue over 1, accounting for a variance of 75.16%. The scale has a high Cronbach's alpha (.974), indicating excellent reliability. A positive correlation was found between the COVID-19 bullying scale and fear, anxiety, and stigma discrimination. The logistic regression showed that higher fear of COVID-19 (ORa = 1.04), a positive attitude toward COVID-19 preventive measures and hygiene recommendations (ORa = 1.18), higher stigma discrimination scores (ORa = 1.09), and having a health professional family member (ORa = 2.42) were significantly associated with bullying.
Our main findings showed that the CBS-11 could be an efficient tool to measure bullying behaviors toward COVID-19 patients. Stigma discrimination and fear from COVID-19 were associated with higher bullying attitudes. Future prospective studies are needed to understand better the factors related to bullying among adults during a pandemic, such as COVID-19.
新冠疫情大流行导致人们长期面临压力和焦虑，引发了对一系列心理副作用的担忧。本研究的主要目的是验证新冠欺凌量表（CBS-11）。第二个目的是探讨与新冠相关欺凌有关的因素，并评估恐惧和焦虑在知识与新冠相关欺凌之间的中介作用。
本研究于 2020 年 12 月 20 日至 2021 年 1 月 5 日期间采用横断面在线调查，使用雪球抽样技术招募了 405 名黎巴嫩成年人。使用专门为此研究创建的 11 项 CBS-11 工具来衡量针对新冠患者的欺凌行为。
CBS-11 的所有项目都集中在一个特征值超过 1 的 1 因子解决方案中，占方差的 75.16%。该量表具有较高的克朗巴赫系数（.974），表明可靠性良好。新冠欺凌量表与恐惧、焦虑和污名歧视呈正相关。逻辑回归显示，对新冠的恐惧程度越高（ORa=1.04）、对新冠预防措施和卫生建议的态度越积极（ORa=1.18）、污名歧视评分越高（ORa=1.09）以及有医疗保健专业的家庭成员（ORa=2.42）与欺凌行为显著相关。
我们的主要发现表明，CBS-11 可能是衡量针对新冠患者的欺凌行为的有效工具。对新冠的污名歧视和恐惧与更高的欺凌态度有关。未来需要前瞻性研究来更好地了解大流行期间成年人中与欺凌有关的因素，如新冠。
