The Assessment Tool

The tool will be used to measure anxiety disorder among adolescents. The name of the too is “Adolescent General Anxiety Assessor” (AGAA) tool. The tool is created specifically for adolescents, who exhibit different causes of anxiety from other age groups. The tool will reveal the hidden signs that prevail in anxiety disorder among adolescents. Some of the signs include emotional changes that are characterized by unexplained outbursts, irritability, restlessness, struggling to concentrate, and feeling on the edge. Another hidden symptom is social changes in which the teenager withdraws from interacting with friends and avoiding extra-curricular activities. Physical changes like fatigue, headaches, and pain are a result of anxiety in this group. Many people in this category also suffer from sleep disturbance. It is these hidden reasons that the tool exists to unearth these symptoms that are not easy to identify or may be confused with other ailments.

The test has various scaling methods. A numerical scale will range from 0-10. The respondents will accord various scores to the questions on the test. Correspondingly, the test will have 15 items. 10 screening items and five additional items, and scoring details at the bottom of the test. The respondents will fill in the questions in various response options. The options include “Not at all,” “Several days,” “More than half the days,” and “Nearly every day.” There are also additional items to which the client will respond with “Not difficult,” “Somewhat difficult,” “Very difficult,” and “Extremely difficult.”

To ensure the validity of the test, the findings will be compared to other reliable and renowned tests. One such test is the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). STAI test is popular for testing stress and anxiety situations like classroom examinations, and military training programs. Another test is the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) test. The test is recognized as a useful tool in discerning anxiety from depression. The AGAA test should have a correlation of higher than 0.5 with the two tests. The high rate shows a lot of similarity between the test findings, which makes them valid. To prompt reliability, the test will be administered to samples of adolescents suffering from anxiety, and the findings recorded. Equally, there will be a rigorous consistency check on the results using the Cronbach’s alphas, which should range between 0.9-0.94. The more successful and reliable the test is at identifying anxiety in the group, the more popular and trustworthy the test will be.

The Test

Reference

Hays, D. (2013). Assessment in Counseling Procedures and Practices. Wiley Library.