Development and Multinational Validation of the War-related Media Exposure Scale (WarMES)

Abstract

Abstract Background: Millions of people witnessing early, repeated media coverage of wars and armed conflicts are at heightened risk of developing both acute and chronic mental health conditions. However, the vast majority of literature available on the field is based on measures with unverified psychometric qualities. This study’s purpose was to design and validate a new self-report scale to specifically measure the extent of exposure to media content related to war, i.e. the War-related Media Exposure Scale (WarMES). Method: A cross-sectional cross-national study based on 2635 community adults from five countries (Tunisia, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Oman). The WarMES was administered to all participants, along with other measures to determine concurrent validity of the scale (depression and stress). Results: Exploratory Factor Analysis performed on an initial pool of 18 items indicated that a 9-item one factor model fits the data well, which was then confirmed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Support for the WarMES's internal consistency reliability was provided by excellent McDonald ω and Cronbach’s α values (0.96). The psychometric properties of the WarMES are equivalent between males and females, as well as between respondents of different nationalities. Evidence for concurrent validity was provided by demonstrating that war-related media exposure scores positively correlated with stress and depression. Conclusion: Findings suggest that the WarMES is valid, reliable and allows to accurately measure the amount of time spent viewing war-content on media. Future validation studies are warranted to ensure that the WarMES maintains the same measurement properties in other languages and cultural contexts.