Abstract
This study evaluated the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the Pandemic Fatigue Scale (PFS) in five South American countries, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. A total of 1448 people selected through convenience sampling (295 Argentines, 294 Bolivians, 279 Uruguayans, 277 Peruvians, and 303 Paraguayans) participated. The two-dimensional structure of the PFS fitted well with the data from each country. Invariance analysis showed that PFS was completely invariant across countries, thus providing a solid basis for comparisons between groups. Adequate discrimination and difficulty were reported for all items. Adequate discrimination parameters would indicate that the PFS items would allow people to differentiate the choice of response alternatives based on the presence of PF. In addition, the difficulty parameters indicate that people require a greater presence of the latent trait to respond to the higher response alternatives of PFS. It was also observed that the boredom and neglect dimensions have a significant and negative impact on protective behaviors, providing evidence of validity based on their relationship with other constructs. In conclusion, the PFS presents evidence of validity and MI for the measurement of PF in the five South American countries included in this study. Thus, PFS can contribute to future empirical research that compares FP in different South American populations and cultures.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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TC-R and JT provided initial conception, organization, and main writing of the text. LWV analyzed the data and prepared all figures and tables. IB, MW-C, AT-L, LV, MO’H, DA, JA-S, JMC-M, AV were involved in data collection and acted as consultants and contributors to research design, data analysis, and text writing. The first draft of the manuscript was written by TC-R, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Caycho-Rodríguez, T., Torales, J., Vilca, L.W. et al. Cross-cultural measurement invariance of the pandemic fatigue scale (PFS) in five South American countries. Curr Psychol 43, 18836–18850 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05004-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05004-2