title: Psychometric properties of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) and its short-form (GAI-SF) in a clinical and non-clinical sample of older adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Geriatric Anxiety Inventory is a 20-item geriatric-specific measure of anxiety severity. While studies suggest good internal consistency and convergent validity, divergent validity from measures of depression are weak. Clinical cutoffs have been developed that vary across studies due to the small clinical samples used. A six-item short form (GAI-SF) has been developed, and while this scale is promising, the research assessing the psychometrics of this scale is limited.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study examined the psychometric properties of GAI and GAI-SF in a large sample of 197 clinical geriatric participants with a comorbid anxiety and unipolar mood disorder, and a non-clinical control sample (N = 59).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The internal consistency and convergent validity with other measures of anxiety was adequate for GAI and GAI-SF. Divergent validity from depressive symptoms was good in the clinical sample but weak in the total and non-clinical samples. Divergent validity from cognitive functioning was good in all samples. The one-factor structure was replicated for both measures. Receiver Operating Characteristic analyses indicated that the GAI is more accurate at identifying clinical status than the GAI-SF, although the sensitivity and specificity for the recommended cutoffs was adequate for both measures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both GAI and GAI-SF show good psychometric properties for identifying geriatric anxiety. The GAI-SF may be a useful alternative screening measure for identifying anxiety in older adults.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Emotional Health,Department of Psychology,Macquarie University,Sydney,New South Wales,Australia.
authors.forename: Carly
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Johnco
authors.affiliation: Centre for Emotional Health,Department of Psychology,Macquarie University,Sydney,New South Wales,Australia.
authors.forename: Ashleigh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Knight
authors.affiliation: Centre for Emotional Health,Department of Psychology,Macquarie University,Sydney,New South Wales,Australia.
authors.forename: Dusanka
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tadic
authors.affiliation: Centre for Emotional Health,Department of Psychology,Macquarie University,Sydney,New South Wales,Australia.
authors.forename: Viviana M
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7227-229X
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Wuthrich
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: Geriatric Anxiety Inventory; anxiety; anxiety disorders; geriatric; older adult; questionnaires
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