Assessing anxiety in men with prostate cancer: further data on the reliability and validity of the Memorial Anxiety Scale for Prostate Cancer (MAX-PC).
Identifying which men with prostate cancer might benefit from mental health treatment has proven to be a challenging task. The authors developed the Memorial Anxiety Scale for Prostate Cancer (MAX-PC) in order to facilitate the identification of prostate cancer-related anxiety. A revised version of this scale was tested in a more clinically varied population. Ambulatory men with prostate cancer (N=367) completed a baseline assessment packet that included the MAX-PC and other psychosocial questionnaires. The MAX-PC showed high internal consistency and concurrent and discriminant validity. Factor analysis identified three distinct factors for the MAX-PC that corresponded to the intended subscales (General Prostate Cancer Anxiety, PSA (prostate-specific antigen) Anxiety, and Fear of Recurrence). PSA levels were not correlated with anxiety overall; however, anxiety was significantly higher among patients whose PSA levels were changing (i.e., rising, falling, and unstable), versus those with stable PSA levels. Also, in a multivariate analysis, the change in PSA levels was a significant predictor of MAX-PC scores, but not Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) scores. These results indicate that the MAX-PC is a valid and reliable measure of anxiety that assesses aspects of anxiety unique to men with prostate cancer, and it may provide a more sensitive measure of anxiety than the HADS for this population.
Roth
Andrew
A
Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Ave., New York, NY 10021, USA.
Nelson
Christian J
CJ
Rosenfeld
Barry
B
Warshowski
Adam
A
O'Shea
Noelle
N
Scher
Howard
H
Holland
Jimmie C
JC
Slovin
Susan
S
Curley-Smart
Tracy
T
Reynolds
Thomas
T
Breitbart
William
W
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D003710:Demography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires