Spanish adaptation of the Fear of Spiders Questionnaire (FSQ): Validity, reliability, sensitivity to therapeutic change and factor structure

The goal of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties and the factorial structure of the Spanish version of the Fear of Spiders Questionnaire (FSQ), as well as its sensitivity to therapeutic change. Seven hundred and forty participants with fear of spiders were evaluated with the FSQ, the anxiety-trait section of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) and the Patient Health Questionnaire for depression (PHQ-9). The Spanish version of the FSQ showed excellent internal consistency (= .966), good divergent validity (r with STAI-T= .108 and r with PHQ-9= .081) and adequate test-retest reliability (r= .799). The FSQ was sensitive to therapeutic change, t(49)= 2.70, p= .009, d= 0.25, and revealed a two-factor structure (Avoidance and seeking help, and Fear of harm) that explained 71% of the total variance. The Spanish version of the FSQ is a valid and reliable instrument that allows assessing the fear of spiders in both clinical and subclinical populations.