Anxiety related to pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a common comorbidity; yet, this construct is understudied because of lack of available valid measurement.
Objective: The present study will report the preliminary validation of the 20-item IBD-Specific Anxiety Scale (IBD-SAS) in a large, geographically diverse sample of adolescents aged 12-18 years with IBD.
Method: A total of 281 adolescents, ages 12-18 (M = 14.8, SD = 1.78; 51% male), completed the IBD-SAS along with measures of IBD-related quality of life, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and disease activity. Factor structure was assessed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA).
Results: EFA (Sample 1; n = 141) yielded one-, two-, three- and four-factor models. The CFA (Sample 2; n = 140) demonstrated that a four-factor model was superior to three- and two-factor model for the amended scale. In total, the IBD-SAS showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .95) and was most strongly associated with health-related quality of life. Moderate to strong associations were observed between IBD-SAS and general measures of anxiety and depressive symptoms, and IBD disease activity providing additional support that health-specific anxiety is a valid and distinct construct.
Conclusions: Based on the results of this study, the IBD-SAS displayed adequate psychometric properties and can meaningfully contribute to the assessment of IBD-specific anxiety in adolescents diagnosed with IBD, thus filling an empirical and clinical need in this population.