Análise fatorial confirmatória e normatização da Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)

Abstract

The main objectives of this study were to perform a confirmatory factor analysis of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and to conduct ROC curves for standardization of cut-off points, in a nonclinical sample. The results showed evidences of the structural validity of HADS and changes were proposed to the diagnostic parameters of anxiety (≥7 points) and depression (≥6 points). Finally, we highlight that caution is needed for the interpretation of the scores and diagnostic decision, especially for the depression measure.