Psychometric properties and health correlates of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory in Australian community-residing older women.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the psychometric properties and health correlates of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) in a cohort of Australian community-residing older women.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study of a population-based cohort of women aged 60 years and over (N = 286).


RESULTS
The GAI exhibited sound internal consistency and demonstrated good concurrent validity against the state half of the Spielberger State Trait Anxiety Inventory and the neuroticism domain of the NEO five-factor inventory. GAI score was significantly associated with self-reported sleep difficulties and perceived memory impairment, but not with age or cognitive function. Women with current DSM-IV Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) had significantly higher GAI scores than women without such a history. In this cohort, the optimal cut-point to detect current GAD was 8/9. Although the GAI was designed to have few somatic items, women with a greater number of general medical problems or who rated their general health as worse had higher GAI scores.


CONCLUSIONS
The GAI is a new scale designed specifically to measure anxiety in older people. In this Australian cohort of older women, the instrument had sound psychometric properties.
Byrne
Gerard J
GJ
School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. gerard.byrne@uq.edu.au
Pachana
Nancy A
NA
Goncalves
Daniela C
DC
Arnold
Elizabeth
E
King
Robert
R
Khoo
Soo Keat
SK
D000368:Aged; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001315:Australia; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires