Cultural adaptation to Southern Aymara and psychometric properties of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) in Peruvian adults

García-Urco T.; Romero-Romero M.; Chura-Maquera E.; Adriano-Rengifo C.E.; Cjuno J. · Terapia Psicologica (2026) · DOI: 10.4067/s0718-48082026000100027

Resumen

OBJECTIVE: To adapt and analyze the validity, invariance, and reliability properties of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scale in Southern Aymara-speaking Peruvian adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This psychometric study was conducted in two phases. The first involved cultural adaptation, using both forward and backward translation of the GAD-7. Subsequently, the instrument was culturally adapted to the Aymara context by expert judges. This phase concluded with a focus group of the target population to evaluate item quality. In the second phase, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed on the GAD-7, and its reliability and measurement invariance were assessed in a non-probabilistic sample of 584 Aymara-speaking adults of both sexes aged 18 years and older. RESULTS: The Southern Aymara version of the GAD-7 demonstrated a unidimensional model with adequate fit indices (CFI = .981, TLI = .972, SRMR = .053, RMSEA = .068) and acceptable reliability (α = .77, ω = .77). Measurement invariance was also confirmed across age, sex, place of residence, educational level, marital status, religion, family income, number of children, and employment status (ΔCFI, ΔTLI, or ΔRMSEA < .01). CONCLUSIONS: The GAD-7 adapted to Southern Aymara proved to be a valid, reliable, and invariant measure across intervening covariates. Therefore, its use is recommended for assessing anxiety with equity and sociocultural sensitivity among Aymara-speaking Peruvian adults.

Instituciones: Universidad Peruana Unión