Performance of the Faces Anxiety Scale in patients transferred from the ICU.

Full Abstract

Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients are often not able to respond to long self-report instruments, therefore, in order to assess anxiety accurately, a short and easy to use measure is required. The Faces Anxiety Scale (FAS) developed by McKinley et al. [McKinley S, Coote K, Stein-Parbury J. Development and testing of a faces scale for the assessment of anxiety in critically ill patients. J Adv Nurs 2003;41(1):73-9.] has promised to be such an instrument. This study assessed the construct validity of the FAS against the well validated anxiety subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), in an ICU population ready for transfer to the ward. The study was a part of a larger study of transfer anxiety. The FAS showed good correlation with the anxiety sub-scale of the HADS which strengthened over time. The FAS was easy and quick to use and seemed to measure anxiety in ICU patients that were ready to move to the wards, however, further testing in a larger sample and with sicker ICU patients is required.

Author information

Author/s: Gustad, Lise T (LT); Chaboyer, Wendy (W); Wallis, Marianne (M);

Affiliation: Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care Units, 0027 Oslo, Norway. lise.tuset.gustad(-atsign-)rikshospitalet.no

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Validation Studies

Journal: Intensive & critical care nursing : the official journal of the British Association of Critical Care Nurses (Intensive Crit Care Nurs), published in Scotland. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2005-Dec; vol 21 (issue 6) : pp 355-60

Dates: Created 2005/11/22; Completed 2006/02/24; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 16102967, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.