Preliminary evidence of the validity and reliability of a brief measure of the impact of anxiety on the health of HIV patients

Background and Objectives: It is common to use measures that do not directly assess the impact of anxiety on the health of people with HIV. The objective of the study was to evaluate the evidence of validity and reliability of the Spanish version of the Health-Related Anxiety Scale (HRAS).

Materials and Methods: 100 patients diagnosed with HIV participated, selected by convenience sampling (76.5% men and 24.4% women; Average age = 39.96 years, SD = 13.19). The factorial structure of the HRAS was evaluated from the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Likewise, the latent-level relationships of HRAS with life satisfaction, generalized anxiety, and depression were evaluated using a structural equation model. Reliability was assessed with McDonald's omega coefficient.

Results: The one-dimensional structure of the HRAS fitted adequately (χ2 = 2.74, p = .254; CFI = .997; TLI = .992; RMSEA = .092 [IC90%: .000, .328] and SRMR = .036) and high reliability (ω = .94). The model that related the latent variables had a good fit (χ2 = 58.11, p = .51, RMSEA = .05 90% CI [.00-.09], CFI = .99, SRMR = .03) , and indicated that HRAS was correlated with satisfaction with life (p = -.52; p <0.01), depression (p = .57; p <0.01) and generalized anxiety (p = .84; p <0.01).

Conclusion: HRAS a valid and reliable measure to assess the impact of anxiety on the health of HIV patients.