Adhikari, Kamala Patten, Scott B. Williamson, Tyler Patel, Alka B. Premji, Shahirose Tough, Suzanne Letourneau, Nicole Giesbrecht, Gerald Metcalfe, Amy Assessment of anxiety during pregnancy: are existing multiple anxiety scales suitable and comparable in measuring anxiety during pregnancy? <p>This study examined the performance of multiple anxiety scales in measuring anxiety during pregnancy, an important issue due to the possible effect of pregnancy-related symptoms on the measurement of anxiety.</p> <p>Secondary data on anxiety, measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-State (STAI-S) 20-item and six-item scales, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale-Anxiety Subscale (EPDS-3A) and the Symptoms Checklist-90-Anxiety Subscale (SCL-90), were obtained from two pregnancy cohort studies. Both cohorts completed the EPDS-3A, while 3341 women completed the STAI-S and 2187 women completed the SCL-90, with 231 women participating in both cohorts. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and Spearman correlation.</p> <p>The STAI-6 had adequate model fit, while the STAI-20 and the SCL-90 had inadequate model fit. Model fitness for the EPDS-3A could not be assessed due to its low number of items. The correlation between the STAI-20 and STAI-6 was excellent (<i>r</i><b> </b>=<b> </b>0.93). The correlation of EPDS-3A with other anxiety scales was low to moderate (<i>r</i> (STAI-20) = 0.57, <i>r</i> (STAI-6) = 0.53 and <i>r</i> (SCL-90) = 0.44). The correlation of SCL-90 with both STAI-20 and STAI-6 was low (<i>r</i><b> </b><<b> </b>0.50).</p> <p>Findings indicate that these scales do not measure anxiety as a single dimension and that these scales are incomparable and may conceptualize anxiety differently.</p> Anxiety during pregnancy;anxiety measurement scale;validity;measurement performance;confirmatory factor analysis;correlation 2020-02-14
    https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Assessment_of_anxiety_during_pregnancy_are_existing_multiple_anxiety_scales_suitable_and_comparable_in_measuring_anxiety_during_pregnancy_/11854422
10.6084/m9.figshare.11854422.v1