Latent Factor Structure of Ten Models of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in a Sample of Young Ecuadorian Adults

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of internal consistency and construct, convergent, divergent, and concurrent validity of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; Zigmond and Snaith, 1983) in the Ecuadorian context. To do this, the original model was evaluated along with nine other solutions proposed by other research, in a sample of 497 young adults in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador. The results show adequate goodness of fit in all models, although clear differences in the other psychometric properties. In solutions of more than one factor, the anomalous behavior of several items is reported. It is concluded that the single-factor version of the HADS scale has adequate properties of internal consistency and construct validity and is an appropriate instrument to be used as a measure of general discomfort in non-clinical populations in the Ecuadorian context.