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Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI
Availability
Please visit this website for more information about the instrument: Beck Anxiety Inventory
Classification
NeuroRehab Supplemental - Highly Recommended
Recommendations for Use: Indicated for studies requiring a measure of emotional impairment.
 
Supplemental-Highly Recommended: Mitochondrial Disease (Mito)*, Myalgic encephalomyelitis/ Chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)
*Recommendations for use: Indicated for studies interested in anxiety level based on self-report.
 
Supplemental: Epilepsy, Headache, Stroke
 
Exploratory: Unruptured Cerebral Aneurysms and Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (SAH)
Short Description of Instrument
Overview: The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) measures the severity of an individual's anxiety. It is a 21-question multiple-choice self-report inventory that is used for measuring how the participant has been feeling in the last week, focusing primarily on somatic symptoms. Importantly, Raj and colleagues (2009) suggest that the BAI may overestimate anxiety severity in participants with Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). Specifically, 5 of the 21 items on the BAI are consistent with somatic orthostatic symptoms and thus could inflate the anxiety score. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the following 5 BAI items in patients with comorbid POTS: heart pounding and racing, feeling dizzy and light-headed, numbness and tingling, feeling unable to relax, and feeling unsteady. The scale is also available in Spanish. This examination is intended to assess short-term anxiety symptoms. The BAI is self-administered or verbally administered by a trained administrator, and each item is descriptive of subjective, somatic, or pain-related symptoms of anxiety. Each question has the same set of four possible answer choices. The scale takes approximately 5-10 minutes to administer and has state and trait anxiety components. Age range is 17 to 80 years.
Comments/Special Instructions
NeuroRehab Specific: Applicable to the following populations: stroke and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Scoring and Psychometric Properties
Scoring: The BAI items are scored on a scale between 0 and 3 and have a maximum score of 63. Total score (0–63), where Minimal Level of Anxiety (0–7); Mild Anxiety (8–15); Moderate Anxiety (16–25); Severe Anxiety (26–63). The instrument can either be manually scored or by using Pearson's proprietary Q-global scoring and reporting software.
 
Psychometric Properties: The BAI is found to discriminate well between anxious and non-anxious diagnostic groups in a variety of clinical populations.
Rationale/Justification
Mitochondrial Disease-Specific:
Strengths: Brief self-report measure.
 
Weaknesses: Includes several physiological symptoms of anxiety that may be present in degenerative disorders but unrelated to mood symptoms.
 
ME/CFS-Specific:
Strengths: Has potential to be used over the phone.
 
Weaknesses: Rao et al. (2006) only used the - the trait version of the scale (BAIT). The scale appears to be sufficiently sensitive to assess trait anxiety and changes over time in ME/CFS participants.
References
Key Reference:
Beck AT, Epstein N, Brown G, Steer RA. An inventory for measuring clinical anxiety: psychometric properties. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1988 Dec;56(6):893-7.
 
Additional References:
Beck AT, Steer RA, Ball R, Ranieri W. Comparison of Beck Depression Inventories -IA and -II in psychiatric outpatients. J Pers Assess. 1996 Dec;67(3):588-97.
 
Kim DS, Park YG, Choi JH, Im S, Jung KJ, Cha YA, Jung CO, Yoon YH. Effects of Music Therapy on Mood in Stroke Patients. Yonsei Med J. 2011 Nov;52(6):977-981.
 
Kim ES, Sun JK, Park N, Peterson C. Purpose in life and reduced incidence of stroke in older adults: 'The Health and Retirement Study'. J Psychosom Res. 2013 May;74(5):427-32.
 
Muntingh AD, van der Feltz-Cornelis CM, van Marwijk HW, Spinhoven P, Penninx BW, van Balkom AJ. Is the Beck Anxiety Inventory a good tool to assess the severity of anxiety? A primary care study in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA). BMC Fam Pract. 2011 Jul 4;12:66.
 
Raj V, Haman KL, Raj SR, Byrne D, Blakely RD, Biaggioni I, Robertson D, Shelton RC. Psychiatric profile and attention deficits in postural tachycardia syndrome. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2009 Mar;80(3):339-44.
 
Rao AV, Bested AC, Beaulne TM, Katzman MA, Iorio C, Berardi JM, Logan AC. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of a probiotic in emotional symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome. Gut Pathog. 2009 Mar 19;1(1):6.
 
Document last updated March 2024