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Psychometric Properties of the French Version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (form Y) Adapted for Older Adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Stéphane Bouchard
Affiliation:
Université du Québec à Hull, Centre de Recherche Université Laval Robert-Giffard, Centre Hospitalier Pierre-Janet
Hans Ivers
Affiliation:
Université Laval
Janel G. Gauthier
Affiliation:
Université Laval
Marie-Hélène Pelletier
Affiliation:
Université Laval
Josée Savard
Affiliation:
Université Laval

Abstract

Although there are reports that the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) should be adapted to older adults, the standard version of the instrument is consistently used with this population. Bouchard, Gauthier, Ivers and Paradis (1996) have adapted a French version of the STAI for a population of older adults and found one item with extremely low item-remainder correlation. In Study 1 (N = 57), alternative formulations of item 24 were assessed to examine if the low item-remainder correlation was related to problems in translation that could become apparent in a sample of older adults. Study 2 (N= 188) was conducted in order to replicate the findings of Study 1 and assess the factor structure of the instrument. In Study 3, 46 older adults completed the instrument on two occasions with a 35-day interval to assess test-retest reliability. Our results suggest that: (a) item 24 should be removed from the trait anxiety scale and be replaced by the mean of the other anxiety-present items; (b) the instrument has a four-factor structure similar to what is found with the standard version of the STAI in nonelderly samples; and (c) both subscales are highly stable.

Résumé

Bien que certaines études indiquent qu'il soit nécessaire d'adapter l'Inventaire d'Anxiété Situationelle et de Trait d'Anxiété (IASTA) pour une utilisation auprès des personnes âgées, la version standard de l'IASTA est couramment utilisée. Lorsque Bouchard, Gauthier, Ivers et Paradis (1996) ont adapté l'IASTA pour les personnes âgées ils ont observé qu'un item posait des problèmes importants de consistance interne. Dans l'Étude 1 (N= 57), ils ont examiné si des formulations alternatives de l'item 24 pouvaient améliorer les indices de consistance interne (item-remainder correlation), suggérant ainsi la présence de problèmes de traduction devenant apparent auprès d'un échantillon de sujets âgés. L'Etude 2 (N = 188) visait à reproduire les résultats de l'Étude 1 et déterminer la structure factorielle de l'instrument. Pour l'Étude 3, 46 personnes âgées ont complété l'instrument à deux reprises dans un intervalle de 35 jours afin d'évaluer la corrélation test-retest. Les résultats suggèrent que: (a) l'item 24 doit être éliminé de l'échelle de trait d'anxiété et remplacé par la moyenne des items reflétant la présence d'anxiété; (b) l'IASTA-Y65+ est constitué de quatre facteurs similaires à ceux de l'IASTA-Y; et (c) la stabilité test-retest des deux sous-échelles est très élevée.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1998

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