Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale (PSAS): psychometric study of a European Portuguese version.
OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND
Pre-sleep arousal constitutes one of the major features of insomnia. As such, it is imperative to have adequate instruments to measure this construct in both clinical and research settings. The Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale (PSAS) is the most well-known measure to evaluate pre-sleep arousal. The current study aimed to examine some of the psychometric properties of a European Portuguese version of the scale.


PARTICIPANTS/METHODS
For this purpose, data from 691 undergraduate students from a medical school were analyzed. Internal consistency indices and factor analysis were performed. In addition, the association between the PSAS and its subscales with other measures was also examined. Finally, PSAS scores of self-reported insomniacs were compared with those of self-reported non-insomniacs.


RESULTS
The results indicated that the PSAS comprises a cognitive scale and a somatic scale, both with adequate internal consistency indices (α = 0.82 and 0.79, respectively). However, a three-factor solution also seemed plausible, suggesting that the original somatic arousal subscale might be divided into two subscales. Significant associations between the PSAS total score and its subscales were found with other concurrent measures such as sleep reactivity to stress, arousability and neuroticism. Self-defined insomniacs presented higher levels of cognitive and somatic arousal than healthy individuals.


CONCLUSIONS
Further investigations of the PSAS are needed to refine its psychometric properties and explore its research and clinical utility in other populations.
['Ruivo Marques|Daniel|D|', 'Allen Gomes|Ana|A|', 'Nicassio|Perry M|PM|', 'Azevedo|Maria Helena Pinto de|MHP|']
D000328:Adult D001143:Arousal D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D011174:Portugal D011594:Psychometrics D015203:Reproducibility of Results D012890:Sleep D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Arousal Scale Insomnia Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale (PSAS) Sleep