Psychological Test Evaluation: Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) Section 1: General Features

a) Title: Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)

b) Author(s): Aaron T Beck, Robert A Steer

c) Publisher: Pearson Education, Inc.

d) Publication Year: 1993

e) Age Range: 17 years to adult (Beck & Steer, 1993)

f) Qualification Code: CL2

Section 2: Instrument Description

a) Instrument Function: What does it measure?

BAI is a tool used to measure the level of anxiety in persons aged 18 and above. It is the criteria referenced assessment instrument. The Beck Anxiety Inventory provides professionals with a strong basis on which to anchor their diagnosis and decisions about the same (Beck et al., 1988; Beck & Steer, 1993). The instrument can be used to measure baseline anxiety to establish how effective treatment is as it goes on. It can also be applied as an outcome measure during the post-treatment period.

(a) Population: Who does the instrument target?

Adults and adolescents- to measure their anxiety levels

(b) How is the instrument used and scored?

The instrument can be used verbally by a trained expert or administered by self and cored by hand

(c) What type of scores does the instrument produce?

The instrument uses a manual scoring or Q-global scoring approach. Q-global is an internet-based site for administration of tests, scoring them, and reporting. It is the home of the industry’s universal standard for assessment. It can be accessed by all internet users. Q-global is fast and efficient in organizing information for examinees, generation of scores, and production of reports that are accurate and comprehensive. The scores range from 0 to 63 and are classified as minimal anxiety, mild anxiety, moderate and severe with scores of 0-7, 8-15, 16-25, and 30-63 respectively (Beck et al., 1988; Gillis, Haaga & Ford, 1995; Halfaker et al., 2011). Generally, the scores are generated from the raw score, although T-scores also exist along with percentiles informed by Psych Corp’s sample of community adults.

Section 3: Psychometric Properties

Describe the norm group. Explain if it is representative, current, and large enough? Explain if the instrument is appropriate for multicultural populations?

The respondents are requested to report how much they have been bothered during the week by each of the 21 symptoms before the BAI testing completion, including the day of completion. Each of the symptoms is provided with four answer options considered to be all possible, i.e., Not at all= 0; mild moderately=2, severely=3(Beck et al., 1988). The scoring formula is a simple process for anyone with the knowledge of the English language, even at the basic level. Furthermore, the tool has attracted validation in various languages across the globe, including Chinese, German, Icelandic, Spanish, French, among others (Oh et al., 2018). The tool is a reliable discriminating tool for anxious and non-anxious people. Therefore, it is widely used as a screening tool for anxiety in a wide range of clinical environments. Thus, it would be accurate to say that it is used by multicultural communities.

Describe the reliability evidence of test results (test-rest, alternate forms, internal consistency, inter-rater reliability). Is there enough reliability evidence to make a decision whether to use or not to use the instrument?

Eighty-three patients drawn from a group that had completed their BAI indicated an average item correlation of .60 Beck & Steer, 1993; Biggs, 2008). The internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha stretches from .92 to -94 for adults test, and the re-test reliability is .75. The BAI has demonstrated acceptable reliability. It also shows discriminant and convergent validity for people aged 14 to 18 years in inpatient setups and outpatient (Beck et al., 1988; Gillis et al., 1995). Therefore, the BAI is psychometrically sound to warrant usage.

Describe the validity evidence of test results (content, criterion-related, construct). Is there enough validity evidence to make a decision whether to use or not to use the instrument?

The concurrent validity compared with the Hamilton Anxiety Rating is .51; .58 for state and .47 in Trait subscales of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) form Y. It reads 54 for the seven days mean anxiety rating of the weekly record of anxiety and depression (Beck et al., 1988; Beck & Steer, 1993). Thus, yes, the scale provides sufficient validity to inform a decision to use it.

Describe and summarize at least two different professional reviews of the test, i.e., Mental Measurement Yearbook, Tests in Print, or other sources.

A review of survey-based test...

Now, an existing literature review on how popular the BAI in psychology training or settings of practice has not been analyzed systematically. However, Piontrowsky and Gallant pointed out that BAI is the most visible scale for anxiety in the literature of research between 2000 and 2005. Still, the area of clinical assessment is widely competitive with many mental health scales emerging in both the research and professional literature. Furthermore, as from the middle of the 90s, regulatory restrictions on the use of multi-method assessment have been a barrier in practice. Historically, therefore, the acceptance of BAI professionally has remained unclear about the extent of usage in training and clinical setups, relative to other instruments in use.
The current study seeks to address the gap in the literature available. Thus, the author was identified via an in-depth literature review, studies using the survey method relating to the assessment of personality, which have been documented on graduate training in testing in psychology and the usage patterns of the test starting from 1989 to 2017. The systematic search produced 45 articles that included a dissertation study. This was used for this review. The findings indicate that the BAI has been utilized and relied on moderately, at least in 21 out of the 35 practice settings survey and in seven out of the ten academic internship studies. While the BAI tool has neither been common nor popular as other tests, such as the BDI, this review indicates that as from 2010, the BAI has begun to gain traction with professional usage, generates notable excitement in assessment training circles, and is adopted by clinical faculties.

The present review, while reflecting the level of usage of the BAI, indicates that 10 of the 14 studies from 2010 onwards reported that the BAI a. is recognized and depended on highly in practice and assessment training, b. a valued tool for clinicians of mental health practice and c. regarded s the choice instrument among a wide range of setups and professional users for self-reporting measures in assessing disorders of mood. Other factors, such as likely competitors, including new measures or already established ones that may affect the trends in the future relating to the use of the BAI, were discussed. Also, there should research effort directed at investigating the common the negative affectivity common factor portrayed in the BAI when distinguishing anxiety from depression in tracing outcomes of treatment (Piotrowski, 2018).

The creation and development of a self-report inventory of 21 items for gauging anxiety severity in psychiatric subjects, according to Beck et al. (1988), is defined. The first pool consisting of 86 items was drawn from scales that were already in existence: the checklist of anxiety, the desk reference checklist of the physician, and the anxiety born out of the situation checklist. Several analyses were used to reduce the pool of items. The outcome, the BAI is a scale of 21 items that indicated high consistency internally (??=?.92), and reliability of test-retest over a week, r(81)= .75. The tool discriminated against anxiety among the diagnostic groups from those that were not anxious. Furthermore, the BAI underwent correlation, moderately, with the revised Hamilton anxiety rating scale, i.e., r(150)=.51, and was slightly correlated with the revised Hamilton Depression Rating Scale of r(153)=.25

In their review, Leyfer, Ruberg & Woodruff-Borden (2006) administered the BAI and the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule (ADIS-IV) to 193 adult subjects at a Midwestern university drawn from a research and treatment center for anxiety. They compared the BAIs scores of four factors from persons with a basic diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder, social or specific phobia, panic syndrome with or without agoraphobia, OCD, and without a psychiatric diagnosis. The BAI and factor cut scores, specificity, sensitivity, including the negative and predictive values were computed for each of the groups. The results in the study concur with earlier findings that the strongest aspect of the BAI is its effectiveness in assessing anxiety symptoms. This review expounds the notion by emphasizing that BAI can and should be used as an effective and efficient screening tool for anxiety disorder.

Section 4: Practical Aspects

How much time is required to administer the instrument?

5 - 10 minutes

How easy or difficult is it to administer, score, and interpret the instrument?

The BAI is a scale with 21 items designed to measure the severity of anxiety (Beck et al., 1988; Beck & Steer, 1993. The respondents are required to rate items based on a scale of four starting from…