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BioPsychoSocial
Assessment Tools for the Elderly - Assessment Summary Sheet
Test: Affect Balance Scale (ABS)
Year:
1965, revised 1969
Domain:
Social
Assessment
Tool Category: Quality of Life
Variations/Translations:
Also available in French, German, Spanish, Cantonese, Laotian
and Cambodian.
Setting:
For use in general population (community).
Method of
Delivery: Self-administered questionnaire.
Description:
This test is designed to measure the positive and negative
psychological reactions of people in the general population to
events in their daily lives. The ABS consists of 10 questions
(self administered), and respondents may use a dichotomous yes/no
reply or a scale of three, four, or five points representing the
frequency of experiencing the feelings; a three point scale
(often, sometimes, never).
Scoring/Interpretation:
Positive and negative scores (PAS, NAS) are calculated and the
affect balance score is the positive score minus the negative
(zero represents balance).
Time to
Administer: N/A
Availability:
Available in McDowell (2006)
Software:
N/A
Website:
N/A
Quantitative/Qualitative:
Quantitative
Validity
(Quantitative): There is extensive agreement between this test
and other self reported indexes of well being. Findings show,
that positive affect was related to social participation,
satisfaction with social life and engaging in novel activities.
These findings have been confirmed in subsequent studies. The NAS
correlated 0.42 with a psychiatrist’ rating of “psychiatric
caseness”. The PAS correlated 0.35 with a single item scale
measuring life satisfaction; the correlation with the NAS was
-0.40. The PAS correlated -0.30 with the General Health
Questionnaire and -0.25 with the Beck’s Depression
Inventory.
Reliability
(Quantitative): Test-retest reliability over three days for
174 respondents exceeded 0.90 (Yule’s Q), and had a
reliability of 0.86. Himmelfarb and Murrell reported alpha
coefficients of 0.65 (community sample) and 0.70 (clinical
sample).
References:
McDowell, I.
(2006). Measuring Health: A guide to rating scales and
questionnaires 3rd Ed. New York: Oxford University
Press.
Comments:
N/A
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