Investigation of the factorial structure and psychometrics of the German version of the Florida Shock Anxiety Scale

Abstract

ABSTRACTCardiovascular diseases are among the leading causes of death, worldwide.To protect those vulnerable to cardiac arrest, defibrillators performing reanimation by automatic discharge are implanted. Due to the high pain intensity of such a procedure, many patients develop anxiety disorders. To diagnose the fear-relevant symptoms, the English version of the Florida Shock Anxiety Scale (FSAS) is used. The present study investigates the quality of the German version of the FSAS using a confirmatory factor analysis. Therefore, a sample of N = 138 participants (n = 38 female and n = 100 male; age: M = 60.99, SD = 11.58) with implanted or wearable cardioverter defibrillators was examined. Similar to the English version, the most suitable model includes the two factors ‘consequence’ and ‘trigger stimulus’. Although, in our investigation, it is not a second order model but a bi-factorial model which reaches the best fit. Both the internal consistency and the convergent validity were checked and showed sufficiently good values. In summary, the German version of the FSAS may also be recommended for the diagnosis of shock-induced anxiety disorder.