Development of the Food Allergy Anxiety Scale in an Adult Population: Psychometric Parameters and Convergent Validity

Abstract

Food allergy (FA) affects up to 10% of young children and 2% to 3% of adults, and appears to be increasing in prevalence across the world. The adverse and growing impact of FAs warrants that closer attention is needed to the psychological mechanisms underlying FA and quality of life, to provide benefits for both clinicians and patients. One of these psychological mechanisms, frequently present in individuals struggling with FA, is anxiety. To provide an FA-specific measure to properly assess the impact of anxiety, the present research proposed the novel Food Allergy Anxiety Scale in an adult population. Two studies were conducted (n= 412), and the psychometric properties of the measure were extensively assessed through several robust statistical techniques (eg, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and item response theory). Our findings indicated a reliable 1-factor structure, significantly associated with other constructs such as general anxiety, depression, and FA quality of life. We are confident that the Food Allergy Anxiety Scale is a powerful tool to assess this specific role of FA within anxiety, which might lead to a better comprehension on how this psychological distress works, and consequently, the development of better strategies to reduce its impact.