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Item The understanding and experience of anxiety in older adults caring for partners with stroke : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology, Massey University(Massey University, 2007) Cotton, Elizabeth HelenAnxiety has been increasingly recognized as a serious health concern in older adults and is reported by many caregivers. However, still relatively little is known about the experience or presentation of anxiety in later life or about how that anxiety relates to caregiving. Much of the research into late-life anxiety has focused on anxiety disorders and has been carried out with reference to younger age groups, using diagnostic and psychometric measures developed, in the main, for younger people. There appear to be few studies in the literature that explore late-life anxiety as an independent phenomenon or that examine the effects of contextual factors on that anxiety. No studies could be found that investigate non-clinical experiences of anxiety in later life, starting from the perspectives of older adults themselves; neither could any studies be found that specifically investigate anxiety-related experiences of elderly people caring for partners with stroke. The present study explores how older adults, caring for partners with stroke, understand and experience anxiety. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine older adults, aged from 65 to 80 years, who were living in the community and were caregivers for partners with stroke. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to identify themes within their accounts. Three master themes were identified: the phenomenon of anxiety, views that influence anxiety, and the experience of anxiety. Emergent themes describe participants' shared, main sources of anxiety, the signs and symptoms by which they recognized anxiety and the strategies that they had developed to cope with anxiety. A range of views about self, caregiving and ageing was identified that appeared to shape the anxiety that participants experienced. Findings highlight the chronic nature of the anxiety experienced by older spousal caregivers and suggest ways in which older caregivers can successfully deal with that anxiety. They provide a useful foundation for further research that seeks to determine which older adults are likely to experience anxiety problems in caregiving and also for programmes that seek to support elderly people who are caring for partners with stroke.Item Measuring anxiety in the elderly : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Psychology at Massey University(Massey University, 2006) Pack, JethroThe present study investigated the measurement of anxiety across age, with particular attention being paid to old older adults (75+ years). Comparisons of scores from the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), trait scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Scale (STAI-t), and the Adult Manifest Anxiety Scale for the Elderly (AMAS-E) were made across three age groups: Adult (35-54), Young older (55-74), and Old older (75+). The relationship between anxiety and depression was also investigated with the inclusion of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) for comparison with the anxiety measures. It was found that BAI scores increased with age, with older adults having mean scores near the mild anxiety cutoff. The BAI also had poor correlations with, and different standardized scores to, other anxiety measures, indicating poor construct validity for the BAI with this non-clinical sample. The BDI poorly correlated with the GDS and with anxiety measures with Old older adults, indicating that it may not be the effective measure it is with younger adults. The present findings suggest that the presentation of anxiety may be different in adults over 75 years old compared to younger adults. Furthermore, some of the current self-report measures that are commonly used in clinical practice and research are not as effective assessment tools with this age group as they are with younger groups.Item The Roberts Anxiety Scale for Elderly : development and psychometric evaluation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2010) Roberts, Margaret HelenPsychological literature has clearly expressed the need for a greater understanding of the phenomenon of anxiety in older adults. In turn, this has contributed to the validity issues surrounding the measurement of anxiety in older adults using self-report psychological measures. As such, the need for a new measure of anxiety specific to older adults has been identified within the literature. This study aimed to address these issues in two closely related studies. Study one used thematic analysis to determine the characteristics of anxiety in a sample of 131 community dwelling older adults. The results supported previous research by indicating that how older adults experienced worry was of greater importance than the topic of worry. Social desirability effects were observed in the reporting of anxiety experiences. Study two developed the content for the Roberts Anxiety Scale for Elderly (RASE) by combining psychological theory with the results from study one. The RASE was administered to 203 community dwelling older adults alongside two existing self-report measures. Confirmatory factor analysis found that a three factor structure of worry, negative affect, and somatic sensations best accounted for observed scores on the RASE. Good internal consistency and convergent validity was found for the RASE. Future research should be directed at evaluating the performance of the RASE in clinical populations of older adults.