ISSEP-2026-07
GRANT ID#: ISSEP-2026-07
GRANT TITLE: The Creation and Initial Validation of The Life-Enhancing Anxiety Scale (LEA-S)
GRANTEE: Instituti Nexus Prishtina
PRIMARY INVESTIGATORS: Sabina Musliu
CO-PRIMARY INVESTIGATORS: Jeremy Coleman, Vjollce Mustafa, Anisa Tahiri
GRANT AMOUNT: USD $2,995
DURATION OF GRANT PROJECT: April 15, 2026 – August 15, 2027
Description of the Project
Executive summary:
Anxiety is one of the most studied psychological constructs, yet it is overwhelmingly framed as pathological. Existential and humanistic theorists, most prominently Kirk Schneider (2023), argue that anxiety can also be life-enhancing: a constructive engagement with the unknown that allows individuals to live fully with the depth and mystery of existence. Unlike clinical anxiety, which reflects avoidance and distress, life-enhancing anxiety embraces both discomfort and possibility, fostering awe, reflection, and growth. Despite its theoretical significance, no validated measure captures this transformative dimension. Existing instruments assess distress or adjacent constructs but fail to isolate the dual nature of anxiety as both impediment and gateway to human flourishing. The proposed project addresses this gap by developing and validating the Life-Enhancing Anxiety Scale (LEA-S), grounded explicitly in Schneider’s thesis. This measure will enable researchers and clinicians to differentiate growth-oriented anxiety from pathology, support cross-cultural investigations, and provide a counterbalance to deficit-focused models.
Itemized budget:
The requested funds will be used exclusively for direct research expenses necessary to develop, refine, and validate the Life-Enhancing Anxiety Scale (LEA-S) across U.S. and Kosovar samples. No funds will be used for salaries, stipends, conference travel, or indirect institutional costs, in compliance with ISSEP guidelines.
1. Participant Compensation – United States ($2,250). Data collection will occur in two waves (EFA and CFA), each requiring large, diverse samples for factor-analytic stability. U.S. participants will be recruited via cloud-sourcing services like Prolific, CloudResearch, or MTurk using fair-pay standards for a 20–25-minute survey. Stage 1 EFA will recruit approximately 400 respondents at $2.50 each ($1,000), and Stage 2 CFA will recruit an additional 400 respondents at $2.50 each ($1,000). An additional $250 is allocated to cover service and processing fees at ~10-15%.
These amounts reflect established norms for online recruitment and help ensure high-quality data.
2. Participant Compensation – Kosovo ($120). To reflect cultural and economic norms and avoid coercive incentives, Kosovar participants will be compensated through a modest raffle system. Ten total raffle prizes of €10 (five per stage; EFA and CFA) will be awarded across both data-collection phases, totaling approximately $120 USD.
3. Test–Retest Reliability Subsample ($200). A subset of 80–120 participants across both countries will complete a 2-week retest needed to estimate temporal stability. Compensation includes $2.00 for each U.S. participant (approximately $120 total), €2 for each Kosovar participant (approximately $40), and a $40 contingency for attrition.
4. Materials, Translation, and Software ($425). Remaining funds will support necessary study materials, including forward/back translations for the Kosovar version of the scale ($150), Qualtrics or platform-related fees ($150), expert-review honoraria ($120), and miscellaneous secure data-storage and transcription expenses ($55).
The total amount approved for this project is USD $2,995.