Abstract

GONZALEZ, Alfonso; MATA, Salvador; LAVIE, Reneé  and  RESLER, Gustavo. Validación del cuestionario de preocupaciones de la Universidad estatal de Pensilvania (PSWQ). RFM [online]. 2007, vol.30, n.1, pp.38-42. ISSN 0798-0469.

Objective: To validate the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for the detection of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Method: 100 outpatients from the Psychiatry Department of the Hospital Vargas de Caracas were evaluated. After completing the Penn State Worry Questionnaire, they were assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV for Axis I Disorders (SCID-I). The Fisher Exact Test (two-tailed) was used for statistical analysis with a P > 0.05. Results: The Penn State Worry Questionnaire showed 76.9 % of sensitivity and 66.6 % of specificity for the diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder prevalence according to the SCID was 13 %. Almost half of the patients presented comorbidity, especially with Major Depression. Generalized Anxiety Disorder was more frequent in women over 30 years old. Conclusions: The Penn State Worry Questionnaire is a valid questionnaire to diagnose Generalized Anxiety Disorder in psychiatric outpatients, however, patients had difficulties to answer it.

Keywords : Anxiety Disorders; Generalized anxiety disorders; Penn State worry questionnaire; Structured clinical interview for DSM-IV.