Validation of an instrument in Latin America to measure fear perception of the consequences of a large-scale war (War-effect)

Introduction: The Russia-Ukraine war brought immediate and delayed socio-economic consequences. All the repercussions, in general, caused fear all over the world. Objective: To validate an instrument for measuring fear perception caused by the consequences of a large-scale war in Latin American citizens. Methodology: Instrumental study, 1705 residents of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and other countries were surveyed through a virtual format. A literature search, expert judgment, preliminary (then exploratory and confirmatory) analysis, as well as reliability assessment were carried out. Results: It started with 13 questions, the skewness and kurtosis values of the questions did not exceed the range ± 1.5 and showed significant correlations (>0.30). The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin index (0.962) and Bartlett's test (19558.5; df = 78; p = 0.000) had good indicators. The parallel analysis suggested a single factor, which explained 75.59% of the total variance. The confirmatory factor analysis generated an instrument with six items (χ2 = 47.33, df = 9, p = 0.001; RMR = 0.010; GFI = 0.990; CFI = 1.00; TLI = 0.990; and RMSEA = 0.050), with an overall Cronbach's Alpha = 0.949 (95% CI = 0.94 - 0.95). Conclusion: A six-item instrument that measures the perception of fear caused by the consequences of a large-scale war was validated in half a dozen Latin American countries. This short and valid instrument can be administered to a broad population in Latin America