Validation of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory in younger adults

2022 ◽  
pp. 016502542110643
Author(s):  
Tina Zhai ◽  
Phoebe E. Bailey ◽  
Kris D. Rogers ◽  
Ian I. Kneebone
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Convergent Validity ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Cutoff Score ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Component Structure ◽  
State Worry

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) in younger adults. Participants were 212 younger adults age M = 22 (range = 17–53) years. They completed a demographic information questionnaire and self-report measures: the GAI, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder–7 (GAD-7), the Patient Health Questionnaire–9 (PHQ-9), the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), and the Worry Behaviors Inventory (WBI). Data from the GAI were collected at two time points, one week apart, and data from other self-report measures were collected once via Qualtrics, an online survey platform. The internal consistency and test–retest score reliability of the GAI were excellent. It had good congruent validity with other anxiety measures, limited divergent validity with depression measures, and sound convergent validity with worry measures. The GAI showed good discrimination between probable cases and noncases of generalized anxiety disorder (participants who scored ⩾8 on the GAD-7) and its optimal cutoff score for probable cases of GAD was ⩾12. A unidimensional component structure of the GAI best fit this study’s data. This study has provided preliminary evidence that the GAI is reliable and valid for use in an Australian sample of younger adults.

Measurement Invariant but Non-Normal Treatment Responses in Guided Internet Psychotherapies for Depressive and Generalized Anxiety Disorders

Assessment ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 107319112110625
Author(s):  
Tom H. Rosenström ◽  
Ville Ritola ◽  
Suoma Saarni ◽  
Grigori Joffe ◽  
Jan-Henry Stenberg
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Treatment Response ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Health Assessment ◽  
Psychotherapy Research ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Equivalence Testing ◽  
Sum Scores ◽  
Normally Distributed

Assessment of treatment response in psychotherapies can be undermined by lack of longitudinal measurement invariance (LMI) in symptom self-report inventories, by measurement error, and/or by wrong model assumptions. To understand and compare these threats to validity of outcome assessment in psychotherapy research, we studied LMI, sum scores, and Davidian Curve Item Response Theory models in a naturalistic guided internet psychotherapy treatment register of 2,218 generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients and 3,922 depressive disorder (DD) patients (aged ≥16 years). Symptoms were repeatedly assessed by Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment-7 (GAD-7) or Beck Depression Inventory. The symptom self-reports adhered to LMI under equivalence testing, suggesting sum scores are reasonable proxies for disorder status. However, the standard LMI assumption of normally distributed latent factors did not hold and inflated treatment response estimates by 0.2 to 0.3 standard deviation units compared with sum scores. Further methodological research on non-normally distributed latent constructs holds promise in advancing LMI and mental health assessment.

scholarly journals Therapist Behaviours in Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: Analyses of E-Mail Correspondence in the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 280-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn Paxling ◽  
Susanne Lundgren ◽  
Anita Norman ◽  
Jonas Almlöv ◽  
Per Carlbring ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy ◽  
Psychological Treatment ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Behaviour Therapy ◽  
Cognitive Behaviour ◽  
State Worry

Background: Internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (iCBT) has been found to be an effective way to disseminate psychological treatment, and support given by a therapist seems to be important in order to achieve good outcomes. Little is known about what the therapists actually do when they provide support in iCBT and whether their behaviour influences treatment outcome. Aims: This study addressed the content of therapist e-mails in guided iCBT for generalized anxiety disorder. Method: We examined 490 e-mails from three therapists providing support to 44 patients who participated in a controlled trial on iCBT for generalized anxiety disorder. Results: Through content analysis of the written correspondence, eight distinguishable therapist behaviours were derived: deadline flexibility, task reinforcement, alliance bolstering, task prompting, psychoeducation, self-disclosure, self-efficacy shaping, and empathetic utterances. We found that task reinforcement, task prompting, self-efficacy shaping and empathetic utterances correlated with module completion. Deadline flexibility was negatively associated with outcome and task reinforcement positively correlated with changes on the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Conclusions: Different types of therapist behaviours can be identified in iCBT, and though many of these behaviours are correlated to each other, different behaviours have an impact on change in symptoms and module completion.

scholarly journals Smartphone-Detected Ambient Speech and Self-Reported Measures of Anxiety and Depression: Exploratory Observational Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Di Matteo ◽  
Wendy Wang ◽  
Kathryn Fotinos ◽  
Sachinthya Lokuge ◽  
Julia Yu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Observational Study ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Severity Of Depression

BACKGROUND The ability to objectively measure the severity of depression and anxiety disorders in a passive manner could have a profound impact on the way in which these disorders are diagnosed, assessed, and treated. Existing studies have demonstrated links between both depression and anxiety and the linguistic properties of words that people use to communicate. Smartphones offer the ability to passively and continuously detect spoken words to monitor and analyze the linguistic properties of speech produced by the speaker and other sources of ambient speech in their environment. The linguistic properties of automatically detected and recognized speech may be used to build objective severity measures of depression and anxiety. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine if the linguistic properties of words passively detected from environmental audio recorded using a participant’s smartphone can be used to find correlates of symptom severity of social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and general impairment. METHODS An Android app was designed to collect periodic audiorecordings of participants’ environments and to detect English words using automatic speech recognition. Participants were recruited into a 2-week observational study. The app was installed on the participants’ personal smartphones to record and analyze audio. The participants also completed self-report severity measures of social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and functional impairment. Words detected from audiorecordings were categorized, and correlations were measured between words counts in each category and the 4 self-report measures to determine if any categories could serve as correlates of social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, or general impairment. RESULTS The participants were 112 adults who resided in Canada from a nonclinical population; 86 participants yielded sufficient data for analysis. Correlations between word counts in 67 word categories and each of the 4 self-report measures revealed a strong relationship between the usage rates of death-related words and depressive symptoms (<i>r</i>=0.41, <i>P</i>&lt;.001). There were also interesting correlations between rates of word usage in the categories of reward-related words with depression (<i>r</i>=–0.22, <i>P</i>=.04) and generalized anxiety (<i>r</i>=–0.29, <i>P</i>=.007), and vision-related words with social anxiety (<i>r</i>=0.31, <i>P</i>=.003). CONCLUSIONS In this study, words automatically recognized from environmental audio were shown to contain a number of potential associations with severity of depression and anxiety. This work suggests that sparsely sampled audio could provide relevant insight into individuals’ mental health. CLINICALTRIAL

scholarly journals Stress and anxiety among physicians during the COVID-19 outbreak in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region: An online survey

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. e0253903
Author(s):  
Banaz A. Saeed ◽  
Nazar P. Shabila ◽  
Aram Jalal Aziz
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
High Stress ◽  
Considerable Proportion ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Kurdistan Region ◽  
Iraqi Kurdistan ◽  
Severe Anxiety

Background During infectious disease outbreaks, healthcare workers are at high risk of infection, infecting others, and psychological distress. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of stress and anxiety in physicians during the COVID-19 outbreak in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and assess their associated factors. Methods This cross-sectional study was carried out in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan Region, from March 28 to April 15, 2020. An online self-administered survey questionnaire was used to collect data from physicians working in specialized COVID-19 centers and other healthcare facilities. The level of stress was measured based on the 10-items Perceived Stress Scale. The level of anxiety was measured based on the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale. Results A total of 370 participants responded to the perceived stress component of the survey, of whom 57 (15.4%) had low perceived stress, 249 (67.3%) had moderate stress, and 64 (17.3%) had high stress. Being female was significantly associated with having moderate/high stress (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.40 (95% CI 1.31–4.39)). A total of 201 participants responded to the generalized anxiety disorder component of the survey, of whom 19 (9.5%) had no anxiety, 57 (28.4%) had mild anxiety, 79 (39.3%) had moderate anxiety, and 46 (22.9%) had severe anxiety. Working in COVID-19 centers (AOR = 2.23 (95% CI 1.02–4.86)) and being general practitioners (AOR = 4.16 (95% CI 1.14–15.14)) were significantly associated with having moderate/severe anxiety. Conclusion A considerable proportion of physicians experience stress and anxiety during the COVID-19 outbreak in Iraqi Kurdistan region. Generalists and those in special COVID-19 units report the greatest anxiety. There a need to establish mechanisms to reduce the risks of stress and anxiety among physicians. Mental health coping interventions through counseling should be based on COVID-19 protocol guidelines. Interventions should also emphasize physicians’ ability to work safely and efficiently in providing care to the patients.

scholarly journals Association Between Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scores and Online Activity Among US Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Analysis

10.2196/21490 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. e21490
Author(s):  
Parvati Singh ◽  
William G Cumberland ◽  
Dominic Ugarte ◽  
Tim-Allen Bruckner ◽  
Sean D Young
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
The United States ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Online Activity ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Daily Time

Background Evidence from past pandemics suggests that fear, uncertainty, and loss of control during large-scale public health crises may lead to increased pandemic-related information seeking, particularly among persons predisposed to high anxiety. In such groups, a greater consumption of information pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic may increase anxiety. Objective In this study, we examine the association between online activity and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) scores in the United States. Methods We recruited participants for an online survey through advertisements on various platforms such as Google, Facebook, and Reddit. A total of 406 adult US participants with moderate to severe (≥10) GAD-7 scores met the inclusion criteria and completed the survey. Anxiety levels measured using the GAD-7 scale formed our primary outcome. Our key independent variables were average daily time spent online and average daily time spent online searching about COVID-19 within the past 14 days. We used as controls potential confounders of the relation between our key independent variables and GAD-7 scores, namely, sleep quality, the COVID-19 Fear Inventory scale, binge drinking, substance use, prescription drug abuse, and sociodemographic attributes. Results Linear multivariate regression analyses showed that GAD-7 scores were higher among those who spent >4 hours online (per day) searching for information about COVID-19 (coefficient 1.29, P=.002), controlling for all other covariates. The total time spent online was not statistically associated with GAD-7 scores. Conclusions Results from this study indicate that limiting pandemic-related online information seeking may aid anxiety management in our study population.

Stress Control: A Pilot Study of Large Group Therapy for Generalized Anxiety Disorder

1990 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim White ◽  
Mary Keenan
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Group Therapy ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Group Treatment ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Large Group ◽  
Cost Effective Treatment

A pilot study is reported on a six session didactic large group treatment package for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) patients referred to a primary care service. Thirty patients underwent the course. By combining a didactic therapy element with workshops, the therapy package allowed a much larger number of individuals to attend the group than could be dealt with in “traditional” group therapy. Two psychologists ran the course. There were few practical difficulties involved in running the course and the range of self-report outcome measures suggest that large group didactic therapy may be a clinically and cost-effective treatment for GAD.

Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Current Status and Future Directions

2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel J. Dugas ◽  
Naomi Koerner
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Behavioral Treatment ◽  
Randomized Clinical Trials ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Cognitive Behavioral ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Future Directions

In this article, we present a cognitive-behavioral model and treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). In the first section, we review a model of GAD that includes four main components: intolerance of uncertainty, positive beliefs about worry, negative problem orientation, and cognitive avoidance. Next we present the GAD assessment tools used at our clinic, which include standardized interviews and self-report questionnaires of GAD symptoms and underlying cognitive-behavioral processes. We then provide a step-by-step description of a treatment that is based on the aforementioned model of GAD, and that has six core components: presentation of treatment rationale (learning to cope with uncertainty); worry awareness training; reevaluation of the usefulness of worrying; problem-solving training; cognitive exposure; and relapse prevention. Following the treatment description, we summarize the efficacy data from our completed randomized clinical trials, and present some preliminary findings from our ongoing trial comparing our treatment to applied relaxation and wait-list control. In the final section, we present an in-depth discussion of future directions for the study and treatment of GAD, with a focus on the approach-avoidance nature of GAD. Given the movement in the field favoring the expansion of cognitive-behavioral treatments, we also comment on the possible implications of the newest integrative therapies for our existing treatment.

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