2.2.4. Anxiety

A seven-item generalized anxiety disorder (GAD-7) is a self-reported measure designed to screen for symptoms following the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria [56]. People rated, on a 4-point Likert scale (0 = Not at all, 1 = Several days, 2 = More than half the days, and 3 = Nearly every day), how often they experienced anxiety symptoms in the past 2 weeks. The GAD-7 scores ranged between 0–4, indicating no or minimal anxiety, between 5–9 mild, between 10–14 moderate, and between 15–21 severe GAD [57]. Scores above 10 points indicated an anxiety disorder. In this study, the Cronbach's α for the GAD-7 was 0.90.
