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Development Of The Spence Children Anxiety Scale-Short Version Essay Discussion

Development Of The Spence Children Anxiety Scale-Short Version Essay Discussion

Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale

SCAS Introduction

Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) is a self-reporting scale that is used for the assessment of the severity of anxiety symptoms in children. The SCAS comprises of a total of 45 items which are classified in six major domains with each representing a key aspect of a child’s anxiety.

  1. Separation anxiety – this is a form of anxiety that occurs in children when they are separated from their parents or guardians
  2. Social phobia – also referred to as social anxiety disorder, a social phobia that causes a person to be extremely anxious in social settings, especially with strangers Development Of The Spence Children Anxiety Scale-Short Version Essay Discussion
  • Obsessive-compulsive problems – is a condition where an individual is obsessed with fears or thoughts leading them to engage in repetitive behavior
  1. Panic/ Agoraphobia – this is an anxiety disorder where an individual is extremely afraid of being in situations that would cause panic
  2. Generalized Anxiety –this is a condition where an individual is overly anxious about nothing in specific
  3. Fears of Physical Injury – refers to the pathological fear of getting injured

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Age

The SCAS tool is usually used and recommended for children aged between 8 to 15 years of age.

Scoring

The total score using this tool ranges from 0 – 114 with an additional six items that are referred to as sub-scale scores. According to Carruthers, Kent, Hollocks and Simonoff (2020), the higher the SCAS score for the child, the higher the levels of anxiety. The vice-versa is true. Another scoring practice used is converting the scores into percentiles on the basis of gender and age. When converted into percentiles, scores of over 84% on any subscale is indicative of a significantly high level of anxiety for the patient. The table below shows the subscales for each domain which are computed by adding the items on the right

 

Table
Separation anxiety 5, 8, 12, 15, 16, 44
Social phobia 6, 7, 9, 10, 29, 35
Obsessive-compulsive 14, 19, 27, 40, 41, 42
Panic/agoraphobia 13, 21, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 37, 39
Physical Injury 2, 18, 23, 25, 33
Generalized anxiety 1, 3, 4, 20, 22, 24

 

The list of items that are not scored because they are termed “filler questions” are 11, 17, 26, 31, 38, 43, 45, and 46. Reardon et al. (2018) have written that in situations where the scale is used on multiple occasions for the same patient, plotting the results on a graph is helpful as it is used to track symptoms, progress, and changes.

 

Management of abnormal scores

Sometimes, the SCAS returns scores that are either extreme; too low, or too high. For example, a SCAS that gives a result of 120 is indicative of the fact that the child has an extreme case of anxiety and clinical interventions are needed immediately. Suggested interventions by Ahlen, Vigerland and Ghaderi (2018) include cognitive behavioral therapy. Counseling is also another suggested method of intervention for children with high levels of anxiety. Quite the opposite, a score that is too low, 3 or lower, is considered a subclinical symptom. A situation such as this shows no symptoms meaning that there are no symptoms and therefore interventions for what is being tested cannot be done. But, the clinical practitioner could arrange for a follow-up test hoping that the revisit would yield an outcome that would point towards symptoms and subsequent intervention Development Of The Spence Children Anxiety Scale-Short Version Essay Discussion.

References

Reardon, T., Spence, S. H., Hesse, J., Shakir, A., & Creswell, C. (2018). Identifying children with anxiety disorders using brief versions of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale for children, parents, and teachers. Psychological assessment, 30(10), 1342. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000570

Ahlen, J., Vigerland, S., & Ghaderi, A. (2018). Development of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale-short version (SCAS-S). Journal of psychopathology and behavioral assessment, 40(2), 288-304. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-017-9637-3

Carruthers, S., Kent, R., Hollocks, M. J., & Simonoff, E. (2020). Brief report: Testing the psychometric properties of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) and the screen for child anxiety related emotional disorders (SCARED) in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 50(7), 2625-2632. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3774-8 Development Of The Spence Children Anxiety Scale-Short Version Essay Discussion