title: Comparison of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) and abbreviated version (PSWQ-A) in a clinical and non-clinical population of older adults.
abstract: The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) is a widely used measure of worry severity. An 8-item abbreviated version (PSWQ-A) has been developed as a brief screening measure, although there are limited studies assessing the psychometric properties of this measure in a large geriatric population. The aim of this study was to assess the utility of the PSWQ-A compared to the full PSWQ, to identify pathological worry in an older adult sample (N=108) of clinically anxious and depressed older adults, compared to a non-clinical sample (N=53). The PSWQ and PSWQ-A were found to have similarly adequate reliability and validity. The factor structure of the PSWQ-A was replicated, but not for the PSWQ. Both measures accurately distinguished between clinical and non-clinical status with similar sensitivity and specificity. These findings indicate the PSWQ-A is a useful measure for screening or epidemiological studies assessing worry in geriatric populations.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: Viviana.Wuthrich@mq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Viviana M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Wuthrich
authors.affiliation: Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Carly
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Johnco
authors.affiliation: Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Ashleigh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Knight
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Generalized Anxiety Disorder; Geriatric; Older adult; PSWQ-A; Penn State Worry Questionnaire Abbreviated; Worry