Repurposing the K-10: The Factor Structure and Latent Profile of COVID-19 Pandemic-Anchored Psychological Distress Symptoms Among Filipino Teachers

Abstract

The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10) is widely utilized to assess non-specific psychological distress. However, when applied to COVID-19 pandemic experiences, its psychometric properties have not been examined. This study investigated the factor structure, reliability, and latent profile of K-10 using data from 3032 Filipino teachers who reflected on their pandemic-related adversity prior to completing K-10. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to evaluate five extant models of the K-10’s structure, supporting the two-factor model (i.e., anxiety and depression) as best fitting the data. Both factors showed excellent internal reliability, and criterion-related validity was supported by correlations with anxiety and depression measures. Latent profile analysis revealed a four-class solution, identifying four distinct levels of distress severity. Overall, the contextualized K-10 demonstrated sound psychometric properties, which corroborates and extends its reliability and validity as a measure of pandemic-related distress. Further, the results offer insights into the dimensionality and distress profiles of the K-10 among teachers. Broadly, the findings highlight the importance of valid instruments in assessing contextualized psychological distress.