Psychometric Properties of the Online Version of the General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7)A Longitudinal Study in Pregnant and Postpartum Spanish Women

  1. Irene Gómez-Gómez
  2. Sara Domínguez-Salas
  3. María F. Rodríguez-Muñoz
  4. Carmen Rodríguez-Domínguez
  5. Diego Gómez-Baya
  6. Emma Motrico
Journal:
Psicothema

ISSN: 0214-9915,  1886-144X

Year of publication: 2024

Volume: 36

Issue: 3

Pages: 227-235

Type: Article

DOI: 10.7334/PSICOTHEMA2023.293 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Psicothema

Abstract

Background: The use of online questionnaires to assess common mental disorders such as perinatal anxiety has spread due to the proliferation of Internet-based psychological interventions and research. This study analyses the validity and reliability of the online version of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) in a sample of pregnant and postpartum Spanish women. Method: A total of 3082 pregnant (n = 1260) and postpartum (n = 1822) women were recruited via the Internet and underwent three follow-up evaluations during a six-month period. Results: A one-factor solution was assigned by Exploratory Factor Analysis and confirmed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis for both pregnant (CFI = 0.998; RMSEA = 0.035) and postpartum(CFI = 0.998; RMSEA = 0.038) women. The one-factor model showed strict invariance across groups. Validity was confirmed by assessing correlations between GAD-7, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and the 10-item Posttraumatic Stress Disorder checklist at three time points. The reliability coefficient was .92 for the two groups. Conclusions: This study shows that the Spanish online GAD-7 version has good psychometric properties and can be used to assess anxiety symptoms during the perinatal period.

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