Factor Structure of the Telugu Version of the Insomnia Severity Index Administered to Primary Care Health Workers of Rural Telangana During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective: Prevalence of insomnia has been high during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, especially in health care workers. The 7-item Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) is the most commonly used tool to assess insomnia severity and its impact. The ISI has not been translated and validated for use among Telugu-speaking health care workers. The objective of this study was to explore the factor structure of the Telugu-translated version of the ISI, administered among primary care health workers in rural Telangana, India.Methods: The Telugu version of the ISI was administered to 315 grass-root primary care health workers in rural primary health centers of 5 districts of Telangana. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to measure the factor structure of the translated version of the ISI. Data were collected in August 2021.Results: The principal component analysis showed that the 7 items of the scale significantly loaded on to 1 latent factor with an eigenvalue of 4.036, explaining 57.66% of the total variance. The factor reliability (Cronbach α) was 0.876.Conclusions: The results show that the Telugu translated version of the ISI conforms to previously found factor solutions and is valid to assess insomnia severity in primary care health workers.