ABSTRACT
Anxiety has many forms and affects a large section of society across the life span. Many tools have been developed to examine Anxiety as a trait; however, clinical aspects of Anxiety have not been assessed properly. Scale for Anxiety Measurement (SAM) is a self-report questionnaire that contains 65 items that measure anxiety on nine dimensions: generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobias, separation anxiety disorder, somatic symptoms disorder, illness anxiety disorder, state and trait anxiety, and impact scale. We aim to develop a screening tool for the non-clinical population to identify areas of concern in anxiety as per DSM-V diagnostic categories. In this paper, we aimed to examine the validity and reliability of the SAM in a non-clinical setting. The standardization of the questionnaire was conducted on participants from the normal population (n=944) and clinical population (n=102). Principal Component Analysis and item analysis was performed to assess the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. Test-Retest Reliability of SAM was measured on a sub-set(n=34) who re-administered the SAM after a week. Results revealed that there are 16 dimensions and the total model explained 64.8% variance with 61 items. Internal consistency, using Cronbach alpha and test-retest reliability was strong. The SAM is a valid, reliable, and effective measure of anxiety. It will be a useful tool for screening and assessing anxiety symptoms in non-clinical as well as clinical Indian settings.