Validity of the Faces Anxiety Scale for the assessment of state anxiety in intensive care patients not receiving mechanical ventilation.
OBJECTIVE
Anxiety is a commonly reported discomfort in critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) but is rarely assessed routinely in a systematic manner. The main aim of this study was to assess criterion validity of the Faces Anxiety Scale in relation to the State-Anxiety Inventory (SAI) in intensive care patients able to respond verbally to the items in the SAI of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. It also reports on the severity of anxiety in intensive care patients not receiving mechanical ventilation.


METHODS
Nonventilated intensive care patients (n=100) self-reported anxiety levels on the Faces Anxiety Scale and on the SAI, administered in random order. Validity was examined using Spearman's rho.


RESULTS
Patients had a mean age of 59.8 years and 65% were male; were in ICU for mainly cardiovascular, respiratory, and neurological diagnoses; and had median length of stay of 2.1 days. The correlation between the two scales was .70 (P<.0005), indicating good criterion validity. Patients reported low to moderate levels of anxiety on both the Faces Anxiety Scale and the Spielberger SAI.


CONCLUSIONS
The Faces Anxiety Scale is a valid single-item, self-report measure of state anxiety in intensive care patients that is easy to administer and imposes minimal respondent burden. It has the potential to be a useful instrument for the assessment of state anxiety by clinicians and for research into the reduction of anxiety in this vulnerable population.
McKinley
Sharon
S
Critical Care Nursing Professorial Unit, University of Technology Sydney and Northern Sydney Central Coast Health, NSW, Australia. sharon.mckinley@uts.edu.au
Madronio
Christine
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D003422:Critical Care; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires