The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale in Greek cancer patients: psychometric analyses and applicability

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Abstract
The aim of the present study was to validate the Greek version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) in a palliative care unit. The scale was translated with the "forward-backward" procedure to Greek. It was administered twice, with a 1-week interval, to 120 patients with advanced cancer. Together with the HAD scale, the patients also completed the Spielberger State-Anxiety Scale (STAI-S). Factor analyses identified a two-factor solution corresponding to the original two subscales of the HAD, which were found to be correlated. The Greek version of the HAD had Cronbach's alphas for the anxiety and depression scales of 0.887 and 0.703, respectively. Validity as performed using known-group analysis showed good results. Both anxiety and depression subscales discriminated well between subgroups of patients differing in disease severity as defined by ECOG performance status. Correlations between the HAD scale and the STAI-S was 0.681 for the anxiety subscale and 0.485 for the depression subscale. These psychometric properties of the Greek version of the HAD scale confirm it as a valid and reliable measure when administered to patients with advanced cancer.