Validation of a brief measure of HIV health-related anxiety among women living with HIV.
Marya T Schulte, William D Marelich, Diana L Payne and 3 others
PMID 29862527WHAT IT FOUND
HIV worry that disrupted sleep, appetite, socializing, or concentration was tracked by a brief screen in women living with HIV.
Higher scores went with anxiety, depression, stigma, and HIV symptoms.
Key findings
01The HRA items formed a single factor in TRACK II, explaining 76.26% of extracted variance, with all factor loadings above 0.80.
02Internal consistency was good in each sample, with Cronbach's alpha 0.92 in TRACK II, 0.91 in IMAGE, and 0.91 in TRACK.
03Higher HRA scores were associated with greater general anxiety and more HIV symptoms.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only women living with HIV who had at least one child were included, so it may not fit men or women without children. The samples were small for some analyses, and the authors say larger samples are needed. Test-retest reliability was not established, so stability over time is unknown. The scale may also capture health-related depression because anxiety and depression overlap. It measures functional effects of worry, not the feeling of anxiety itself, and may be broad stress rather than anxiety. Validation measures were not available in all three samples.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use this scale to diagnose anxiety or to conclude that HIV worry causes poor functioning. It was validated only in women living with HIV with children, correlates with general anxiety and depression, and the authors say it screens behavioral consequences of worry rather than anxiety disorders.