[Specific dimensions of anxiety in surgical patients. Development of a questionnaire and empirical results]

This article reports on the construction and empirical evaluation of an instrument for the measurement of different components of surgery-related state anxiety. The anxiety inventory KASA identifies three components: cognitive, autonomic, and somatic anxiety reactions. Internal consistencies of the three scales related to these components were highly satisfactory (Cronbach's alpha between 0.80 and 0.91). An analysis of scores of these three components across the perioperative period demonstrates that the KASA is a sensitive indicator of state anxiety changes. Further analyses concerning external relationships of this new instrument with indicators of coping, trait anxiety, perioperative mood states and postoperative adjustment are reported. Results of these analyses indicate that the KASA is a reliable and valid measure of different components of surgery-related anxiety.