BACKGROUND:

The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Severity Scale (GADSS) is an interview rating scale designed specifically for assessing symptom severity of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), which has demonstrated positive psychometric data in a sample of adult primary care patients with GAD and panic disorder. However, the psychometric properties of the GADSS have not been evaluated for older adults.

METHODS:

This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the GADSS, administered via telephone, with a sample of older primary care patients (n=223) referred for treatment of worry and/or anxiety.

RESULTS:

The GADSS demonstrated adequate internal consistency, strong inter-rater reliability, adequate convergent validity, poor diagnostic accuracy, and mixed discriminant validity.

CONCLUSIONS:

Results provide mixed preliminary support for use of the GADSS with older adults.

Published 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.