Development of the Korean Version of the Brief Measure of Worry Severity(BMWS)

Lim, Jae Hyoung; Joe, Sook Haeng; Han, Changsu; Kim, Seung Hyun; Yang, Jaewon; Lee, Moon Soo; Jeong, Hyun Ghang; Ko, Young Hoon

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
We developed a Korean version of the Brief Measure of Worry Severity(BMWS), and examined its reliability, validity, and factor structures. We also explored the associations of pathological worry with depression and anxiety.
METHODS
Three hundreds fifty-two subjects including community population and college students completed the BMWS, and 27 subjects repeated the scale three weeks later. Reliability was assessed by Cronbach's coefficient alpha and test-retest correlation. The external validity was examined by the correlation of the BMWS score with the scores of Beck Depression Inventory(BDI), Patient Health questionnaire-2(PHQ-2), State Anxiety Inventory(SAI), and Trait Anxiety Inventory(TAI). And principal component analysis was performed to evaluate the construct validity. The associations of pathological worry with depression and anxiety were explored using partial correlation analysis.
RESULTS
Cronbach's coefficient alpha for the BMWS was 0.904 and test-retest correlation was 0.56(P<0.01). The Spearman correlation coefficients of the BMWS score with the scores of BDI, PHQ-2, SAI, and TAI were 0.60(P<0.01), 0.42(P<0.01), 0.36(P<0.01), and 0.59(P<0.01), respectively. The BMWS showed unifactorial construct. When controlling for TAI score, the correlation coefficient between the BMWS score and the BDI score was 0.357(P<0.01), and when controlling for BDI score the correlation coefficient between the BMWS score and the TAI score was 0.446(P<0.01).
CONCLUSION
The Korean version of the BMWS was found to be a reliable and valid questionnaire for measuring pathological worry. And we could identify the associations of the pathological worry with depression as well as anxiety.