Psychometric evaluation of the mini-social phobia inventory (Mini-SPIN) in a treatment-seeking sample

Abstract

The Mini-Social Phobia Inventory (Mini-SPIN) is a 3-item, self-rated screening instrument to assess social anxiety disorder, but its psychometric properties have not yet been examined in a sample seeking treatment for psychiatric disorders. We analyzed responses from 291 adults who telephoned the Adult Anxiety Clinic of Temple (AACT) seeking treatment for social anxiety or generalized anxiety and worry. The Mini-SPIN demonstrated strong internal consistency. Support for the convergent validity of the Mini-SPIN was provided by moderate correlations with several self-report measures and a clinician-administered measure of social anxiety completed by the subsample of callers who later came to the AACT for evaluation. Furthermore, the Mini-SPIN correlated significantly with two of three measures of functional disability, but not with a measure of life satisfaction. Correlations with measures of other constructs were nonsignificant, providing support for the discriminant validity of the Mini-SPIN. In addition, a cutoff score of 6 on the Mini-SPIN yielded strong sensitivity and diagnostic efficiency in the subsample of treatment seekers that later completed pretreatment evaluation, although the specificity of this cutoff score was not optimal in this sample. Overall, the Mini-SPIN demonstrated sound psychometric properties in this treatment-seeking sample.