Psychometric Properties of the General Anxiety Disorder 7-Item (GAD-7) Scale in a Heterogeneous Psychiatric Sample

The GAD-7 is commonly used as a measure of general anxiety symptoms across various settings and populations. However, there has been disagreement regarding the factor structure of the GAD-7, and there is a need for larger studies investigating the psychometric properties of the measure. Patients undergoing treatment (N = 1201), both inpatient and outpatient patients, completed the GAD-7 at pre- and posttreatment. Measures of depression, well-being, and other anxiety measures were also completed, making it possible to investigate convergent and divergent validity. Internal consistency and convergent validity were excellent for the total sample, and there was acceptable variation related to treatment groups. We…