The Iranian version of geriatric anxiety inventory (GAI-P): a validation study

BACKGROUND: Anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems experienced by the elderly that affects quality of life. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI-P) in order to provide a valid instrument for measuring anxiety in this population. METHODS: Forward-backward translation was used to translate the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory from English into Persian and was tested by 10 elderly to assess its face validity. Then a sample of elderly people attending health centers in Dezful, Iran completed the questionnaire. Validity was assessed using both exploratory and confirmatory factors analysis, known-groups comparison (abused and non-abused elderly) also was administered. The internal consistency of the instrument was assessed using Kuder-Richardson 20 coefficients (KR-20). Afterwards, the reliability and validity through assessing the correlation between the Persian version of the GAI-P and the SF-36, were measured. RESULTS: In all 720 elderly completed the questionnaire. Of these data from 420 elderly were used for exploratory factor analysis and the data from the remaining 300 elderly were used for confirmatory factor analysis. The exploratory factor analysis showed a three-factor solution (cognitive, arousal and somatic) for the questionnaire that jointly explained 59.48% of the overall variance observed. The confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor solution and the second-order latent factor model. The findings indicated a positive and significant correlation between the two measures lending support to its concurrent validity (r = 0.67, p < .001).Ultimately, the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory was found to have a favorable internal consistency. CONCLUSION: This study confirmed that the GAI-P is a valid measure of anxiety in elderly population and now can be used in geriatric studies in Iran.