Dutch validation of two questionnaires: Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale (OASIS).

The CD-RISC (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Connor & Davidson, 2003) and the
OASIS (Overall Anxiety Severity And Impairment Scale, Campbell-Sills et al,
2008; Norman, Hami-Cissell, Means-Christensen & Stein, 2006) are two
questionnaires which have been developed in the United States. The CD-RISC
consists of 25 items and it is developed to evaluate resilience. The respondent
can answer each item by scoring it on a 5 point-scale. The OASIS consists of 5
items and is developed to evaluate the severity of anxiety complaints. It also
uses a multiple choice format.
Because of the rise of positive psychology (Linley & Joseph, 2004) and
especially the attention that is been devoted to *resilience* by cognitive
therapists (Kuyken, Padesky & Dudley, 2008a; 2008b), an instrument like the
CD-RISC might be of great value. By validating the CD-RISC for Dutch patients,
research into people*s protective factors and into interventions designed to
build and booster these becomes within the realm of possibility.
The OASIS is in several ways a very attractive questionnaire. Because it only
consists of 5 items, it is a remarkably user friendly instrument. It has been
shown a promising tool for screening and evaluation purposes in US research
(Campbell-Sills et al, 2008) with regard to patients with all kinds of anxiety
disorders, making it suitable for application within transdiagnostic treatment
protocols. These are used more and more these days, and the first reports show
optimism about their possible success (Allen, McHugh & Barlow 2008; Barlow,
Allen & Choate, 2004; Norton & Philipp, 2008).

To validate both questionnaires for Dutch anxiety disordered patients.

All patients who present with anxiety disorders at participating outpatient
clinics of PsyQ will be handed out information and informed consent forms by
the people at the reception desk after their initial interview. In PsyQ
Haarlem, these are handed out to all patients. When informed consent is
obtained, a meeting with a research assistant is scheduled. To avois
unnecessary burdening of patients, every effort will be made to schedule it
before or after their first treatment session. The research assistant will
administer the MINI and asks the patient to fill in all the questionnaires.
Anxiety patients at PsyQ Haarlem will be asked to fill in the OASIS at the
beginning of their second session as well, in order to obtain information
regarding test-retest reliability in a clinical sample.
The following instruments will be administered: MINI-plus (Dutch adaptation;
(Sheehan et al, 1998), Clinical Global Impression of Severity (CGI-S; NB
standard procedure atPsyQ is that the intake scores this item, the research
assistant uses this scorer), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; Beurs & Zitman,
2006), De Grote Vijf Persoonlijkheidstest (Dutch adaptation of the Big Five
Inventory, BFI; Denissen, Geenen, Van Aken, Gosling & Potter, 2008), Beck
Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck, Epstein, Brown & Steer,1988), Utrechtse
Copinglijst (UCL; Schreurs, Van De Willige, Brosschot, Tellegen & Graus, 1993),
EuroQol (EQ-5D; The EuroQol Group, 1990; Lamers, Stalmeier, McDonnell, Krabbe &
Van Busschbach, 2005), OASIS and CD-RISC.
After half a year, or sooner if treatment has already come to an end (in which
case the therapist informs the research assistant), some instruments are
administered again: MINI-plus, CGI-S, OASIS, CD-RISC, BSI, BAI, EQ-5D.

The administration of MINI and questionnaires will take up to approximately one
hour at the first assessment and 45 minutes at the second assessment. There are
no apparent risks regarding health or well-being of patients. Because of
validity purposes, studies like these require a significant amount of
questionnaires to be administered. In case the OASIS fulfils it*s initial
promise in The Netherlands as well, such an effort is surely worthwhile: We too
have an instrument to assess impact of anxiety within a few minutes.
If patients do so desire, they and their therapists are provided with feedback
regarding the outcomes of the MINI and questionnaires, possibly resulting in
improved treatment. This might be an advantage of taking part in the research
project.