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

Millions of people witnessing early, repeated media coverage of wars are at heightened risk of developing mental health conditions. However, most literature available on the field is based on measures with unverified psychometric qualities. This study aimed to design and validate a new self-report scale to measure the extent of exposure to media content related to war, the War-related Media Exposure Scale (WarMES).

A cross-sectional study based on 2635 community adults (73.1% females, mean age of 23.98 ± 7.55 years) from 5 countries (Tunisia, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Oman). To verify the factor structure, we carried out an Exploratory Factor Analysis in a first subsample (N = 859) then a Confirmatory Factor Analysis on the remaining subsample (N = 1777) using SPSS AMOS.

Based on an initial pool of 18 items, results showed that a 9-item one-factor model fits the data well. Support for internal consistency was provided by a Cronbach's α = 0.96. The factor structure was equivalent across sex and country groups. Evidence for concurrent validity was provided by demonstrating that WarMES scores positively correlated with stress and depression.

Findings suggest that the WarMES is valid, reliable and allows to accurately measure the amount of time spent viewing war-content on media.