Adaptation of the Zung self‐rating anxiety scale for people with a mental handicap*

There are few instances of studies which elicit mentally handicapped subjects' views of their own anxiety. This may be because the assessments available are inappropriate and poorly understood by the client group. The present study sets out to adapt the Zung self-rating anxiety scale for use with mentally handicapped subjects. Items were rephrased to ensure understanding, although a small degree of standardization may have been lost in this process. Similarly, response presentations were altered to ensure a reliable understanding on behalf of subjects. It was found that a simple response concerning presence or absence of the anxiety symptom was most reliable.