Revisión de estudios de la Escala de Ansiedad y Depresión Hospitalaria (HAD) en muestras españolas1 macarmen@umh.es

Abstract

Introduction: The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS, Zigmond and Snaith, 1983) has become a popular clinical instrument de-signed to assess anxiety and depression. Evidence of HADS’ good screen-ing properties applied to several samples has been found. HADS seems to be as good screening properties as other tools. Different studies in Spanish sample tested its psychometric properties, including also their cut-offs points, specificity and sensitivity. Our aim is to unify the results of studies in Spanish population specifying guidelines regarding their applicability and interpretation of their cut-off points. Material and method: bibliographic re-view. Results: 15 articles were selected, a) HADS confirms its optimal psy-chometric properties in different groups, b) HADS shows some variability in proposed cut-off points for different groups, c) A number of items shown weak factor loading and item-test. Discussion: These items should be reconsidered for new proposals of a shortened final scale. We suggest at-tending at distress total scale.