Psychometric properties of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale with a population of members of a depression self-help group

This paper reports the psychometric properties of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale when used with 341 members of a self-help group for people with depression. We report internal reliability and factor structure for t he complete data set and factor structure for groups split by gender, previ ous hospitalization for depression and current use of medication for depres sion. In each instance the factor structure reflects the intended depressio n and anxiety subscales. We comment on the usefulness of the HADS in studie s of cognitive processes in depression and anxiety.