
%0 Journal Article
%A Mohd Sidik, Sherina 
%A Arroll, Bruce 
%A Goodyear-Smith, Felicity 
%T Validation of the GAD-7 (Malay version) among women attending a primary care clinic in Malaysia
%J Journal of Primary Health Care
%D 2012/03/01
%V 4
%N 1
%P 5-11
%K 
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/HC12005
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HC12005 
%X INTRODUCTION: Anxiety is a common mental health disorder in primary care, with a higher prevalence among women compared to men. AIM: This is the first study to validate the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 questionnaire (GAD-7) as a case-finding instrument for anxiety in a primary care setting in Malaysia. The objective was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of the Malay version of the GAD-7 in detecting anxiety among women. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a government-funded primary care clinic in Malaysia. Consecutive women participants attending the clinic during data collection were given self-administered questionnaires including the GAD-7 (Malay version). Participants then were selected using systematic weighted random sampling for Composite International Diagnostic Interviews (CIDI). The GAD-7 was validated against the CIDI reference standard. RESULTS: The response rate was 87.5% for the questionnaire completion (895/1023), and 96.8% for diagnostic interviews (151/156). The prevalence of anxiety was 7.8%. The GAD-7 had a sensitivity of 76% (95% CI 61%&#x96;87%), a specificity of 94% (88%&#x96;97%), positive LR 13.7 (6.2&#x96;30.5) and negative LR 0.25 (0.14&#x96;0.45). DISCUSSION: The Malay version of the GAD-7 was found to be valid and reliable in case-finding for anxiety in this study. Due to its brevity, it is a suitable case-finding instrument for detecting anxiety in primary care settings in Malaysia. KEYWORDS: Validation; anxiety; primary care; women; Malaysia 
