VALIDATION OF HOSPITAL ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION SCALE AMONG STROKE SURVIVORS IN NORTHWEST NIGERIA

Abstract

The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was initially developed to assess anxiety and depression in the medical outpatients’ clinic. HADS has been variously validated among clients with different illness in various countries including Nigeria. This study contributes to clinical mental health counselling by investigating the use of HADs among outpatient stroke survivors in Northwest Nigeria.  The cross-sectional survey design was use to select a total of fifty (50) stroke survivors (25 males, 25 females) that came for physiotherapy at the Murtala Muhammadu Specialist Hospital, Kano. The respondents were aged between 25 and 65 years. Data analysis was conducted using Reliability analysis and Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) in SPSS (version 20). The results showed that the internal consistency reliability yielded a reliable Cronbach’s alpha for the anxiety (HADS-A), and depression (HADS-D) subscales and a higher Cronbach’s alpha for the total scale (HADS). This indicated that the subscales and the HADS total have adequate internal consistency. The EFA results indicated items loading above 0.40 and eigenvalues greater than one with scree plot illustrating two factors exactly before the bend.  These verified the two-dimensional structure of HADS and its usefulness in assessing its’ constructs among outpatient stroke survivors.  Therefore, the HADS is reliable and valid for use among stroke survivors in Northwest Nigeria.