Adjusting to the New Normal of COVID-19 Survey

Abstract

The Adjusting to the New Normal of COVID-19 Survey is a specialized inventory designed to quantify the extent to which individuals in Ghana have modified their daily routines and lifestyles in response to the changes induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. The scale operates on the definition of the “new normal” as the pervasive and enduring alteration of daily life resulting from the pandemic crisis. Initially conceived as a larger instrument containing 25 items, the survey was developed using data collected from adults residing in Ghana and ultimately refined into a 23-item measure assessing various dimensions of behavioral change.

Keywords

Behavioral Adjustment, COVID-19, New Normal, Pandemics, Health Behavior, Preventive Health Behavior, Behavioral Measures, Outdoor Activities, Personal Development, Ghana.

Authors

Kekesi, Elias Kodjo; Agyemang, Collins Badu; Sam, David Lackland

Purpose

The principal objective of the Adjusting to the New Normal of COVID-19 Survey is to systematically assess the level of Behavioral Adjustment exhibited by the adult population in Ghana concerning the enduring changes necessitated by the global pandemic. This measure allows researchers and public health officials to understand how behavioral patterns have shifted, enabling targeted interventions and policy adjustments.

Construct

The scale measures the construct of pandemic-related Behavioral Adjustment, defined as the degree to which an individual has altered their activities and routines to align with the post-pandemic reality. Through rigorous psychometric analysis, this construct was found to be represented by a two-component structure:

• Outdoor activities: Reflecting changes in public engagement, mobility, and activities performed outside the home environment.

• Personal development/family-oriented activities: Reflecting changes in private life, including self-improvement, domestic engagement, and time spent with family units.

Validity

Information regarding the specific validity (e.g., construct, concurrent, or predictive validity) of the Adjusting to the New Normal of COVID-19 Survey is currently not available in the primary source documentation.

Reliability

The reliability of the instrument was established primarily through measures of internal consistency for the derived components. The resulting indices demonstrate high reliability for both factors:

• The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the “Outdoor activities” component was calculated at .88.

• The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the “Personal development/family-oriented activities” component was calculated at .91.

Factor Analysis

Scale development utilized Factor Analysis, specifically Principal Component Analysis (PCA), to determine the underlying structure of the 25 initial items. The initial PCA revealed four components with eigenvalues exceeding 1, which collectively accounted for 46.40%, 8.30%, 5.27%, and 4.29% of the total variance, respectively.

However, subsequent analysis using a scree plot suggested a clearer and more appropriate cutoff after the second component. This two-component structure was further confirmed by parallel analysis, which involved 1000 replicated simulations of a randomly generated data matrix. Following an oblimin rotation, the final solution solidified into two distinct structures. Component 1 demonstrated strong loadings from 15 items, and Component 2 showed strong loadings from 10 items. Two items (items 5 and 7) were removed from the final measure due to problematic cross-loading across both components. The resulting 23-item measure successfully explained 54.70% of the variance.

Instrument

Test Type: Original

Format: The final 23 items are evaluated using a 5-point Likert scale. Response options range from 1 (“hardly any change”) to 5 (“changed very much”), assessing the degree of change experienced by the respondent.

Language Available: English

Population Group: Human (Male and Female)

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years and older), specifically categorized as Young Adulthood (18-29 years), Thirties (30-39 years), Middle Age (40-64 years), and Aged (65 years and older).

Population Details: The study population utilized for the development and validation of the scale was located in Ghana.

Test Methodology: The comprehensive development of the instrument involved Test Reliability assessment, Internal Consistency analysis, Factor Analysis, and Principal Component Analysis.

Keywords

Behavioral Adjustment, COVID-19 Pandemic, New Normal, Outdoor Activities, Personal Development, Family-Oriented Activities, Psychological Assessment, Psychometrics, Ghana, Public Health.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: orcid.org/0000-0002-5301-249X (Kekesi, Elias Kodjo)

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected] (Kekesi, Elias Kodjo)

Correspondence Address: University of Ghana, Department of Psychology, P.O Box LG 84, Legon-Accra, Ghana.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: Permissions for use of the scale should be obtained by contacting the Corresponding Author (Kekesi, Elias Kodjo). Fee: There is no stated fee for use of the instrument. Test Year: 2023.

Reference’s

• Kekesi, E. K., Agyemang, C. B., & Sam, D. L. (2023). Assessing levels of knowledge, compliance with preventive measures and behavioral adjustments to the ‘new normal’ of COVID-19: Empirical evidence from Ghana. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 5, Article 100168. doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2023.100168

Items of the Adjusting to the New Normal of COVID-19 Survey

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

No data is Available