Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The WHO declared COVID-19 a global crisis on March 11, 2020, triggering heightened stress and fear of contamination. These factors led individuals to adopt cleanliness behaviors as a coping mechanism, particularly among those prone to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Therefore, this study aimed to develop and validate the over-cleanliness scale (OCS) and evaluate its psychometric properties in both pandemic and non-pandemic contexts. Additionally, the study examined the effects of perceived stress and OCD proneness on over-cleanliness behaviors. METHODS: Psychometric properties of the newly developed OCS were evaluated through conveniently selected 416 participants (ages: 18 to 68 years). A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data and participants' responses were recorded through their ratings on OCS considering pandemic and non-pandemic contexts. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and item response theory (IRT) were used to examine the factor structure, structural validity, and measurement properties of the OCS. Hierarchical multiple regression was employed to examine the contributions of perceived stress and OCD proneness on over-cleanliness. RESULTS: In both pandemic and non-pandemic contexts, the OCS showed robust psychometric properties, confirming single-factor structure emerged through EFA and confirmed through the model fit indices of CFA. The newly developed OCS had higher discrimination values, acceptable threshold parameters, and the ability to cover a broad range of the latent trait. Moreover, perceived stress (F (1, 414) = 7.00, p < 0.01) and OCD proneness [F (1, 413) = 16.90, p < 0.001] were the significant predictors of pandemic over-cleanliness creating 1.7% and 5.9% variations, respectively. CONCLUSION: The study highlights that while stress alone may influence cleanliness behavior, OCD proneness and pre-existing cleaning practices also play a crucial role. Targeted therapeutic interventions for OCD symptoms and habitual cleaning practices can be more effective in reducing compulsive cleaning during stressful events.