Key result
The Worry and Anxiety Questionnaire demonstrates robust psychometric properties for assessing GAD in older adults.
Why the study?
Does the Worry and Anxiety Questionnaire (WAQ) accurately assess GAD symptoms and facilitate diagnosis in older adults?
Does the Worry and Anxiety Questionnaire (WAQ) accurately assess GAD symptoms and facilitate diagnosis in older adults?
The Worry and Anxiety Questionnaire is a valid and useful tool for assessing and diagnosing generalized anxiety disorder in older adults.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Supports WAQ adoption in geriatric clinical practice; extends validated GAD assessment to older adult research.
OBJECTIVES: The Worry and Anxiety Questionnaire (WAQ) was initially developed to provide a rapid and efficient assessment of all the symptoms and diagnostic criteria for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Given that few instruments have been validated for evaluating GAD in older adults, the WAQ-being brief and assessing each component of GAD separately-may offer a valuable measure for this population. The present study examines its psychometric properties in older adults. METHOD: A total of 495 participants aged 60-90 years took part in the study. The sample included 141 individuals diagnosed with clinical or subclinical GAD through a clinician-administered structured interview and 354 individuals from the general population. All participants completed the WAQ and additional assessment instruments. It also showed excellent sensitivity (95.8%) and adequate specificity (76.1%) for identifying probable GAD. CONCLUSION: These results support the robust psychometric properties of the WAQ in older adults. Beyond assessing the severity of GAD symptoms, the WAQ represents a valuable tool to facilitate diagnosis in this population.
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Perrot et al. (2026) studied this question. The Worry and Anxiety Questionnaire demonstrated robust psychometric properties and is a valuable tool to assess GAD symptom severity and facilitate diagnosis in older adults.
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