The validation of the Serbian version of the general anxiety disorder scale (GAD7): A pilot study

Abstract

Introduction. Among the four most common anxiety disorders, not counting simple phobias, are the panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and general anxiety disorder (GAD). One of the main distinctions of the generalized anxiety disorder, and indeed its core defining feature, is the chronic and persistent sense of worry. The GAD7 screener has been specifically designed to target and measure this disorder. Objective. It is the aim of this study to perform a pilot validation of the Serbian translation of the GAD7 questionnaire. Method. We performed two separate sampling surveys for our study, the first sample in an online survey of the general population (N=344), and a paper and pencil survey of the student population (N=230). Results. We performed exploratory (Keiser-Meyer-Olkin = 0.905; χ2=1093.435 (DF=21; p<0.001)) and confirmatory (AGFI=0.801; CFI=0.937; RMSEA=0.151; ECVI=0.503) factor analysis that have proven favorable to the proposed model. The mean GAD7 score was 6.91(SD=5.21). In S2 this score correlated positively with Neuroticism (r=0.64), Negative affect (r=0.71), Stress (r=0.78), Depression (r=0.58) and Anxiety (r=0.69). Female participants register higher scores than males as in all similar studies and this also goes in favor of the scales validity. Conclusion. In our pilot study we have shown that the GAD-7 questionnaire is a viable measure of the generalized anxiety disorder but further research on clinical and general populations are needed to strengthen this claim.