The measurement of anxiety through computerised content analysis - A contribution to the automation of the Gottschalk-Gleser-technique

The Gottschalk-Gleser Content analysis for the measurement of anxiety and h ostility has proven to be a valid and reliable content analytic method For the quantification of affects in many studies. It was used world-wide, Germ an scales have been available since 1980. Especially in the field of psycho somatic medicine a lot of research was done. The certain use of this method , however, needs an extensive training and the application takes an enormou s amount of time. For these reasons a computer program for the Gottschalk-G leser analysis was developed in English language, whereas for German texts such a program has not been available up to this date. This report describe s the development of a computer based anxiety measurement method in German - the Dresden Anxiety Dictionary (Dresdner Angstworterbuch, DAW). The DAW i s designed as a category system for use with different content analytic sof tware. The test of reliability and validity, using 160 clinical texts, show s that the DAW is a reliable and valid method that can be used in different fields.