Psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version of the state anxiety scale for children

The assessment of anxiety in children undergoing surgery must be addressed before any intervention can be appropriately Planned, Provided, and evaluated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the State Anxiety Scale for Children. Two hundred and thirty-seven children from a primary school and 112 children admitted for day surgery were recruited for this study. The instrument demonstrated adequate internal-consistency reliability, appropriate concurrent validity, and construct validity. Factor analyses further confirmed the construct validity of the scale, with a good fit between the factor structure of the scale and the observed data. Results suggest that the Chinese version of the State Anxiety Scale for Children can be used as a self-report assessment tool in measuring the anxiety level of Chinese children ages 7-12 years. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.