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Beck Anxiety Inventory


The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) was developed to address the need for an instrument that would reliably discriminate anxiety from depression while displaying convergent validity. It is a test done people to make them aware of the reason for their anxiety or depression. Such an instrument would offer advantages for clinical and research purposes over existing self-report measures, which have not been shown to differentiate anxiety from depression adequately.

A lot of study has been done in this field to ensure the help provided to the patients being fruitful.
This study investigated the properties of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Scores on the BAI were compared with data from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory. The BAI demonstrated good psychometric properties, with a high level of internal consistency. Relatively low test-retest correlations, in comparison with the STAI-Trait, suggested that the scale was functioning as a state measure.

There are many elements to this test. Some of them are as listed below:

Feeling hot
Unable to relax
Fear of worst happening
Unsteady
Terrified and afraid
Feeling of loosing control
Sacred
Hot and cold sweats
Uneasiness
Difficulty in breathing. And many more.

All the sophisticated study of the working of the BAI is given below.

Scoring

The scale consists of 21 items, each describing a common symptom of anxiety. The respondent is asked to rate how much he or she has been bothered by each symptom over the past week on a 4-point scale ranging from 0 to 3. The items are summed to obtain a total score that can range from 0 to 63.

Reliability and Validity

The scale obtained high internal consistency and item-total correlations ranging from .30 to .71 (median=. 60). A sub sample of patients (n=83) completed the BAI after 1 week, and the correlation between intake and 1-week BAI scores was .75. The correlations of the BAI with a set of self-report and clinician-rated scales were all significant. The correlation of the BAI with the HARS-R and HRSD-R were .51 and .25, respectively. The correlation of the BAI with the BDI was .48. Convergent and discriminate validity to discriminate homogeneous and heterogeneous diagnostic groups were ascertained from three studies. The results confirm the presence of these validities.
Norms
The three normative samples of psychiatric outpatients were drawn from consecutive routine evaluations at the Center for Cognitive Therapy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The total sample size was 1,086. There were 456 men and 630 women. Recommended for use in assessing anxiety in clinical and research settings.
This BAI is a test that can help a person suffering from it understand his body and mind mechanism better than before. He is in a better situation to face and fight the situation out bravely.

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