Portuguese version of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory: Transcultural adaptation and psychometric validation

Abstract

Objectives: The Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) is a recently developed anxiety instrument designed to assess the severity of anxiety symptoms across a range of presentations in older adults. In this study, the authors examined the validity of the Portuguese version of the GAI and assessed its psychometric properties.

Method: A cross-sectional study was designed using a sample of 152 community-dwelling older adults, and a geriatric psychiatric sample of outpatients with clinical diagnoses of depression (n = 32), anxiety disorders (n = 23), and early Alzheimer's disease (n = 10).

Results: The Portuguese version of the GAI required linguistic and transcultural adaptations, particularly on the somatic expressions of anxiety. It exhibited sound internal consistency and demonstrated good concurrent validity against the state half of the Spielberg State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-30), and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). The optimal cut-off point to detect severe anxiety symptoms was 8/9, but no optimal cut-off point for Generalized Anxiety Disorder could be estimated.

Conclusion: These findings provide initial evidence that the Portuguese version of the GAI is a valid and reliable measure for assessing late-life anxiety and highlights the need for possible modifications of the instrument before being used in other languages and cultural groups.

Keywords:

• late-life anxiety
• GAI
• psychological distress
• psychometrics
• cultural aspects

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr Nancy Pachana and her team for all the support in discussing the Portuguese version throughout the translation and validation process; the Clinical Psychogerontology Master Students team from Coimbra University for their contribution in the translation process and field work; the Psychogeriatric Service from Hospital Magalhães Lemos for the valuable efforts in recruiting clinical cases and Pedro Teixeira and Laetitia Teixeira for their help with the statistical analysis.