Enquires about the frequency of anxiety symptoms and worrying over the past 2 weeks
Includes the first 2 items of the GAD-7
To screen for generalised anxiety disorder in a ‘first-step’ approach
Patients who screen positive (score 3 or higher) should be further evaluated with the GAD-7 to determine whether they meet criteria for a generalised anxiety disorder (next step)
Step 2: GAD-7
Total score is calculated by assigning scores of 0, 1, 2, and 3, to the response categories of ‘not at all’, ‘several days’, ‘more than half the days’, and ‘nearly every day’, respectively
GAD-7 total score for the seven items ranging 0-21
Scores of 5, 10, and 15 represent cut points for mild, moderate and severe anxiety, respectively
Though designed primarily as a screening and severity measure for generalised anxiety disorder, it also gives good indications for social anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder
When screening for individual or any anxiety disorder, a recommended cut-off point for further evaluation is a score of 10 or greater, also in adolescents
