Evaluation tools of anxiety and depression are useful for diagnosis and clinical management orientation before the changes caused by cancer experiences. The present study compared psychometric advantages and disadvantages of instruments commonly used in specialized services in Oncology: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). There were 200 patients diagnosed with cancer and in chemotherapy treatment participating in the study, being 30.5% men and 69.5% women, aged between 18 to 89 years (M=56.8; SD=15). The instruments showed coefficients of reliability varying between .74 and .84. The evaluated psychometric characteristics indicated better values for HADS-D and GAD-7. However, HADS-A and PHQ-9 were also found to be suitable for evaluation of anxiety and depression. We suggest the adoption of these instruments for screening, diagnosis and monitoring of cancer patients, especially in psychological and social domains.
Cancer; Anxiety; Depression; Psychometrics; Statistical measurement
