Portuguese version
Ribeiro, O., Paúl, C., Simões, M. R., & Firmino, H. (2011). Portuguese version of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory: Transcultural adaptation and psychometric validation. Aging & Mental Health, 15(6), 742-748. https://10.1080/13607863.2011.562177
Original version
Pachana, N.A., Byrne, G.J., Siddle, H., Koloski, N., Harley, E., & Arnold, E. (2007). Development and validation of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory. International Psychogeriatrics, 19, 103–114. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610206003504
Theoretical background
The Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) is a newly developed instrument that measures dimensional anxiety in older people (Pachana et al., 2007). The GAI is a relatively brief measure consisting of a 20-item self-reported or administered scale and is able to discriminate between older adults with or without anxiety symptoms and those with and without DSM-IV Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).
The Portuguese version of the GAI required linguistic and transcultural adaptations, particularly on the somatic expressions of anxiety. A further list of 12 items that better represented the Portuguese cultural expressions of anxiety was generated. and was included in the validation study assessment protocol at the end of the GAI inventory as additional items. These items were the object of further statistical analysis. Some of them were included in the Portuguese version.
Description
Assessment Domain: Anxiety.
Type of Instrument: Self-report questionnaire.
Application: Individual, 5 minutes.
Population: Elderly.
Dimensions
The GAI is a relatively brief measure consisting of a 20-item self-reported or administered scale and is able to discriminate between older adults with or without anxiety symptoms and those with and without DSM-IV Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).
Studies
The GAI was translated from English into Portuguese by a committee of three psychologists and a psychiatrist with expertise in old age mental health and fluency in English; one of the psychologists has a complementary specific expertise in psychological assessment. A larger group of psychologists attending a Clinical Psychogerontology Masters course provided opinions on face and content validity in the translation process.
The resulting preliminary Portuguese version was first given to a small sample of healthy older adults for comment on ease of understanding and then used in a pilot study prior to the validation study.
The validation study includes a community sample (152 participants aged 59–92 years) and the anxiety clinical group (23 patients).
GAI exhibited sound internal consistency and demonstrated good concurrent validity against the state Spielberg State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-30), and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). The optimal cut-off point to detect severe anxiety symptoms was 8/9.
References
- Pachana, N.A., Byrne, G.J., Siddle, H., Koloski, N., Harley, E., & Arnold, E. (2007). Development and validation of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory. International Psychogeriatrics, 19, 103–114. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610206003504
- Ribeiro, O., Paúl, C., Simões, M. R., & Firmino, H. (2011). Portuguese version of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory: Transcultural adaptation and psychometric validation. Aging & Mental Health, 15(6), 742-748. https://10.1080/13607863.2011.562177