Assessing older adults with generalized anxiety: a replication and extension

Area of Science:

• Geriatric Psychiatry
• Psychometrics
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Anxiety significantly impacts older adults' health.
• Standardized measurement tools are crucial for research in this demographic.
• Prior research on anxiety measures in older adults needs replication and extension.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the psychometric properties of five self-report anxiety measures in older adults with GAD.
• To replicate and extend previous findings on the utility of these measures.
• To evaluate internal consistency, reliability, and validity.

Main Methods:

• The study included 57 older adults diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
• Five self-report measures were analyzed: Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), Worry Scale (WS), Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and two versions of the Fear Questionnaire (FQ).
• Psychometric properties examined included descriptive characteristics, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent/divergent validity.

Main Results:

• Most measures demonstrated good internal consistency.
• A revised Fear Questionnaire (FQ) focusing on fear severity showed improved internal consistency.
• Measures of specific fears and worries (WS, FQ) were stable and showed convergent validity. Convergent validity was also found for WS, PSWQ, and STAI-Trait, but PSWQ and STAI lacked test-retest reliability. Only PSWQ demonstrated divergent validity against depression measures.

Conclusions:

• The psychometric properties of anxiety measures in older adults with GAD vary.
• A revised FQ may offer better internal consistency for assessing fear severity.
• Further research is needed to refine reliable and valid anxiety assessment tools for this population.