Validation of the Dutch Short Form of the State Scale of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory: Considerations for Usage in Screening Outcomes

Objective: To validate the six-item short form of the state scale of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) for usage in screening outcomes in a Dutch population receiving preconception counseling.

Methods: Men and women completed the 20-item full form of the STAI before (n = 310) and after preconception counseling (n = 147). Prorated scores of the six-item form were compared to the full form using Pearson's correlation coefficients and paired t tests.

Results: Cronbach's alpha for the Dutch translation of the short-form of the STAI-state was 0.83. The short form highly correlates with the full form (r = 0.95). The short form was able to discriminate between different levels of anxiety and was sensitive to change.

Conclusion: The Dutch translation of the short form of the STAI-state has good reliability and validity and was found to be useful as a quick tool to evaluate the effectiveness of screening programs on anxiety levels. We believe our results will be applicable to other populations, although this needs to be confirmed in other studies.