The School Anxiety Scale-Teacher Report (SAS-TR): translation and psychometric properties of the Iranian version

Abstract

BackgroundThe School Anxiety Scale-Teacher Report (SAS-TR) was designed to assess anxiety in children at school. The SAS-TR is a proxy rated measure and could assess social anxiety, generalized anxiety and also gives a total anxiety score. This study aimed to translate and validate the SAS-TR in Iran.MethodsThe translation and cultural adaptation of the original questionnaire were carried out in accordance with the published guidelines. A sample of students participated in the study. Reliability was estimated using internal consistency and test-retest analysis. Validity was assessed using content validity. The factor structure of the questionnaire was extracted by performing both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses.ResultsIn all 200 elementary students aged 6 to 10 years were studied. Considering the recommended cut-off values, overall the prevalence of high anxiety condition in elementary students was found to be 21 %. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the Iranian SAS-TR was 0.92 and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was found to be 0.81. The principal component analysis indicated a two-factor structure for the questionnaire (generalized and social anxiety) that jointly accounted for 55.3 % of variances observed. The confirmatory factory analysis also indicated a good fit to the data for the two-latent structure of the questionnaire.ConclusionIn general the findings suggest that the Iranian version of SAS-TR has satisfactory reliability, and validity for measuring anxiety in 6 to 10 years old children in Iran. It is simple and easy to use and now can be applied in future studies.

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Effect of the Communication Skill Training of Mothers Using Multimedia on the Anxiety Levels of Primary School Students

“…Exploratory factor analysis, main components, and varimax rotation were used to validate construct validity. The reliability of SAS-TR was assessed and Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the Iranian SAS-TR was 0.92 and interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was found to be 0.81 (Hajiamini et al, 2012).…”