title: Psychological assessment of ICU survivors: a comparison between the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress scale.
abstract: Recovery from a critical illness can be delayed by persistent anxiety and depression. To identify such patients, a new self-report questionnaire (the Depression, Anxiety and Stress scale, DASS) was used alongside an established instrument (the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, HADS) in those who had spent a minimum of 3 days (median 9 days) in a general intensive care unit. Fifty-one patients were studied 3 months later, and 45 survivors were reviewed at 9 months. High Cronbach alpha values (0.92-0.95) for each subscale of DASS confirmed its internal consistency, and likewise for HADS (0.82-0.86). HADS and DASS correlated strongly at each time point both for anxiety (r = 0.88) and depression (r = 0.93), with few discrepant values on a Bland and Altman plot. DASS performs as consistently as HADS in screening for anxiety and depression, and its psychometric properties support its use in an intensive care setting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Hammersmith Hospital, London W12 0HS, UK.
authors.forename: K T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Sukantarat
authors.forename: R C N
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Brett
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D003422:Critical Care / Q000523:psychology*; D016638:Critical Illness / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*