Validation of a clinically useful measure of children's state anxiety before medical procedures.

Abstract

Assessment of children's anxiety in busy clinic settings is an important step in developing tailored interventions. This article describes the construct validation of the Children's Anxiety Meter-State (CAM-S), a brief measure of state anxiety. Existing data were used to investigate the associations between child self-reports of anxiety, parent reports of child anxiety, and observed child distress during an intravenous procedure. Children's (n = 421) CAM-S scores were significantly associated with all parent measures and observed distress ratings. Findings support the use of the CAM-S for assessment of child anxiety in clinical settings.