A self-report measure of diabetes-specific anxiety symptoms for adolescents

ABSTRACT

Adolescents with Type 1 diabetes experience anxiety symptoms specifically related to the self-management of diabetes. The purpose of this study is to describe the initial psychometric testing of the Anxiety Symptoms in Diabetes Scale in Adolescents (ASDS-A), a 14-item instrument designed to measure diabetes-specific anxiety. Following an in-depth qualitative study, items were identified and reviewed by experts, and remaining items were tested in 146 adolescents. A PCA indicated a single dimension (Eigenvalue, 6.106) with a Cronbach’s α of .896, leaving a 14-item measure. There is strong evidence that the ASDS-A is a developing reliable and valid measure of diabetes-specific anxiety.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescents
• type 1 diabetes
• anxiety
• depression
• quality of life

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.