RESUMEN

The Youth Anxiety Measure for DSM-5 (YAM-5) is a self- and parent-report scale specifically developed to assess symptoms of major anxiety disorders (part 1 or YAM-5-I) and specific phobias/agoraphobia (part 2 or YAM-5-II) in children and adolescents in terms of the contemporary psychiatric classification system. Since its introduction, the measure has been increasingly used in research, making it feasible to provide a summary of its psychometric properties. The present article presents a systematic review of 20 studies that employed the YAM-5, involving 5325 young participants. Overall, the results supported the hypothesized factor structure of both parts of the measure, although there were also some studies that could not fully replicate the original five-factor model of YAM-5-I. The internal consistency of the YAM-5 was generally high for the total scores of both parts, while reliability coefficients for the subscales were more variable across studies. Research also obtained evidence for other psychometric properties, such as test-retest reliability, parent-child agreement, convergent/divergent validity, and discriminant validity. Results further revealed that girls tend to show significantly higher anxiety levels on the YAM-5 than boys. Overall, these findings indicate that the YAM-5 is a promising tool for assessing symptoms of anxiety disorders including specific phobias in young people. Some directions for future research with the YAM-5 and recommendations regarding the use of the measure are given.

RESUMEN

An important challenge to enhancing community access to mental health interventions in marginalised, transcultural settings is the development of culturally relevant screening measures. Cross-cultural adaptation (CCA) and translation methods offer guidelines for the adaption of existing screening measures for use across cultures with the aim of preserving semantic and construct equivalence as well as validity. Yet, the application of CCA methods has been inconsistent and validation strategies have focused predominantly on expert review and quantitative validity testing. Additionally, potentially important context-specific interpretations of measure items have been lost in translation-heavy approaches. The missing link in the CCA of existing measures may be the addition of culturally sensitive, community-based evaluative methods. This paper presents a report of the application of a seven-step CCA method developed by the first author to address the issue of cultural relevance in the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Spence Child Anxiety Scale (SCAS) an anxiety measure for use in a specific South African community context. The findings emphasise the surprising context-specific interpretations of items in measures applied transculturally, which support the case for qualitative, community-based validation of translated, CCA screening measures used to explore the effectiveness of mental health interventions across cultural contexts.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The present study aimed to explore the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the Youth Anxiety Measure for DSM-5 (YAM-5). Two groups of non-clinical children and adolescents were recruited. The first group (n = 520) was recruited via 4 schools of Tehran, Iran, and only completed the YAM-5. The second group (n = 557) was recruited via 4 schools of Tabriz, Iran. In addition to the YAM-5, they completed another anxiety scale and a depression scale. The exploratory factor analysis of data of the first group revealed a five factor model similar to the original model of the scale. The confimatory factor analysis showed that the five factor model fit with the data of second group. Also, the convergent validity was supported. The current findings, thus, provide support for validity and reliability of Persian version of the YAM-5 in a nonclinical sample of children and adolescents in Iran.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Fear of childbirth is related to but not synonymous with general anxiety, and represents a superior predictor for maternal and infant outcomes. There is a need to improve the identification and provision of support for women experiencing high fear of childbirth. However it is uncertain as to whether existing measurement tools have appropriate content validity (i.e. cover the relevant domains within the construct), practical utility, and whether they are acceptable for use with a UK population. This study aimed to (1) identify the utility and acceptability of existing measures of fear of childbirth (FOC) with a small UK sample and (2) map the content of existing measures to the key concepts of fear of childbirth established by previous research. METHODS: Ten pregnant women; five with high and five with low fear of childbirth participated in a cognitive interview covering four most commonly used measures of fear of childbirth: 1. The Wijma Delivery Expectancy Questionnaire (WDEQ A), 2. The Oxford Worries about Labour Scale (OWLS), 3. The Slade-Pais Expectations of Childbirth Scale - fear subscale (SPECS) and 4. The Fear of Birth scale (FOBS). Each measure was also reviewed by participants for ease and clarity of understanding and acceptability. The measures were then reviewed against the key domains identified in the fear of childbirth literature to ascertain the adequacy of content validity of each measure. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis for each scale item. RESULTS: All measures except the FOBS, included items that either women did not understand or, if where there was understanding the meanings were inconsistent across women. All measures demonstrated limited acceptability and content validity for the specific construct of FOC. Therefore, none of the measurement tools currently used within the UK met criteria for understanding, acceptability and content validity for measurement of FOC. CONCLUSIONS: Findings emphasise a need to develop a specific fear of childbirth tool with good clarity which demonstrates appropriate content validity, and that is acceptable in presentation and length for pregnant women in a UK population.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The Youth Anxiety Measure for DSM-5 (YAM-5) is a newly developed rating scale for assessing anxiety disorder symptoms of children and adolescents in terms of the contemporary classification system. In the present study, 187 children aged 8-12 years completed the new measure as well as the trait version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC), the Short Form of the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-R-SF), the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS), the Selective Mutism Questionnaire (SMQ), and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Results indicated that part one of the YAM-5, which measures symptoms of the major anxiety disorders, was most substantially linked with the trait anxiety scale of the STAIC, whereas part two, which measures phobic symptoms, was most clearly associated with the FSSC-R-SF. The correlation between the YAM-5 and the SCAS was also robust, and particularly strong correlations were found between subscales of both questionnaires that assessed similar symptoms. Further, the selective mutism subscale of the YAM-5 was most clearly linked to the SMQ. Finally, the YAM-5 was also significantly correlated with depression symptoms as indexed by the CDI. These findings provide further support for the concurrent validity of the YAM-5.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The Youth Anxiety Measure for DSM-5 (YAM-5) is a new self- and parent-report questionnaire to assess anxiety disorder symptoms in children and adolescents in terms of the contemporary classification system. International panels of childhood anxiety researchers and clinicians were used to construct a scale consisting of two parts: part one consists of 28 items and measures the major anxiety disorders including separation anxiety disorder, selective mutism, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder, whereas part two contains 22 items that focus on specific phobias and (given its overlap with situational phobias) agoraphobia. In general, the face validity of the new scale was good; most of its items were successfully linked to the intended anxiety disorders. Notable exceptions were the selective mutism items, which were frequently considered as symptoms of social anxiety disorder, and some specific phobia items especially of the natural environment, situational and other type, that were regularly assigned to an incorrect category. A preliminary investigation of the YAM-5 in non-clinical (N = 132) and clinically referred (N = 64) children and adolescents indicated that the measure was easy to complete by youngsters. In addition, support was found for the psychometric qualities of the measure: that is, the internal consistency was good for both parts, as well as for most of the subscales, the parent-child agreement appeared satisfactory, and there was also evidence for the validity of the scale. The YAM-5 holds promise as a tool for assessing anxiety disorder symptoms in children and adolescents.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental disorders in adolescence. There is a need for brief screening tools to identify adolescents at risk for anxiety disorders. The Youth Anxiety Measure for DSM-5 has been recently developed to assess youths' anxiety symptoms in terms of the current classification system. The goal of this study is to provide a first test of its psychometric properties in a community sample of adolescents in Spain. METHODS: The sample consisted of 505 13- to 17-year-old adolescents who completed Part I of the YAM-5 (YAM-5-I), which measures symptoms of the major anxiety disorders. RESULTS: Data indicated that the YAM-5-I displays appropriate internal consistency reliability. In addition, support was also found for the construct validity of the measure: most items loaded on a factor that represented the hypothesized anxiety syndromes, although it should also be noted that some items exhibited issues and therefore had to be discarded. LIMITATIONS: Cross-cultural and trans-national studies are needed to determine psychometric properties of scale across languages and cultures. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the YAM-5-I has satisfactory psychometric properties, which indicates that it can be used as a screening tool in Spanish-speaking adolescents from the general population.

Asunto(s)