Translation and validation of the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale (APAIS) for Iranian population

Although anesthesia and surgery have become safer and more successful than ever before, preoperative anxiety is still a common problem. In this study, we translated and validated the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale (APAIS) for Iranian population.

We first translated the English version into Farsi, then translated back into English. The translation to English was authorized by the correspondent author of English version (Tim Wysocki).The questionnaires were completed by 130 patients with A.S.A I and II scheduled for elective outpatient surgeries. They also completed 20-item Spielberger’s State Anxiety Inventory (STAI-State) questionnaire concurrently as a gold standard for evaluation of preoperative state anxiety.

Cronbach’s alpha was 0.84 for the anxiety scale and 0.82 for the need-for-information scale. The correlation between the anxiety items of the APAIS and the STAI-State was high (0.68) and the correlation between the information items and the STAI-State were intermediate (0.50). Factor analysis with oblique rotation revealed two factors which explained 72% of the total variance: anxiety and need-for-information. Female sex and need-for-information were independently associated with preoperative anxiety. Anxiety was significantly higher in females (9.30±4.12) than males (5.8±2.30) (P<0.001). Assuming APIAS for anxiety equal or more than 11 as cut-off point, 21% of our study patients were anxious and 68% of our patients had a positive-information attitude.

Farsi version of APAIS is a valid and reliable instrument for evaluation of preoperative anxiety and information requirement. Gender and information requirement are independently associated with preoperative anxiety. .