ADAPTATION OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT WORRY SCALE (CAWS) IN BANGLA

Abstract

The present study aimed to adapt the Child and Adolescent Worry Scale
(CAWS) to use in the context of Bangladesh. The original scale developed by
Campbell and Rapee in 1994 consisted of 20 items and higher scores on the
scale indicate higher anxiety. Standard procedure for adaptation was followed.
Item analysis was done on school going 130 mainstream and special need
children aged between 6 to 15 years. The Cronbach’s Alpha and test-retest
reliability was found to be .799 and .858 respectively for the adapted scale
indicating high level of reliability. Criterion-related validity was measured by
calculating concurrent and postdictive validity. Concurrent validity was
measured by computing correlation (r= .912, p=.001) between the adapted scale
and Beck Anxiety Inventory. Similarly, correlation value of postdictive validity
was found to be .806, p=.001. Both measures ensured that the adapted scale
measures the same construct as the original one. Moreover, the Mann-Whitney
U test also indicated that the scale could differentiate between the mainstream
and special need children regarding their worry/anxiety. Worry score was
greater for the special need children than the other group (U= 608.50 at p =.001).
It indicates that the adapted scale has good sensitivity to varying levels of
anxiety severity. The psychometric properties of the Bangla CAWS suggest that
professionals and the researchers can use the scale to assess children and
adolescent’s overall level of anxiety in Bangladeshi context.