The DOI matches its Crossref record; 53 of the 55 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Short Health Anxiety Inventory: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Abstract
Introduction The Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI) measures health anxiety in medical and non-medical contexts.Objective To review the literature pertaining to the psychometric properties of the SHAI in non-clinical, clinical, and medical samples. Meta-analysis was also conducted to examine the strength of associations between the SHAI and other constructs.Methods Direct search of digital databases for papers that cited the original SHAI publication.Results Seventy-eight papers were identified, with 42 providing relevant information. The SHAI has acceptable Cronbach's alpha scores, strong construct validity, and is sensitive to treatment. Discrepancies have been observed between the findings of factor analytic studies, largely as a result of varying methods used. Overall, there appears to be greatest support for the original two factors, with one factor assessing health anxiety and one factor assessing negative consequences of illness. As expected, individuals with hypochondriasis score higher as compared to non-clinical samples. The strongest association was observed between the SHAI and other measures of health anxiety, followed by measures related to health anxiety vulnerability, and then general anxiety and worry.Conclusions The SHAI is a psychometrically sound tool for assessing health anxiety across samples. Future studies are needed, however, to assess test-retest reliability, incremental validity, and cut-off scores as well as use of the SHAI among diverse samples.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“A shortened version of the Health Anxiety Inventory [66] and Whitley Index 6 [68] have been developed and widely used in clinical settings due to their practicality and brief nature [69, 70].”
From Illness Anxiety Disorder: A Review of the Current Research and Future Directions (2024) · cites this paper as [69]
In the citing paper
“The SHAI is composed of 18 items on a categorical four-point scale from 1 to 4 (scale range 18–72) [33] and has shown high reliability, criterion validity, and sensitivity to treatment [34].”
From Cost Effectiveness of Internet-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Patients with Severe Health Anxiety: A Randomised Controlled Trial (2022) · cites this paper as [34]
In the citing paper
“The SHAI has shown sound psychometric properties including good reliability and validity in clinical and non-clinical populations (Salkovskis et al., 2002; Abramowitz et al., 2007; Alberts et al., 2013).”
From Health Anxiety and Mental Health Outcome During COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy: The Mediating and Moderating Roles of Psychological Flexibility (2020) · cites this paper as Alberts et al., 2013
In the citing paper
“A cut-off score of 18 has been commonly used to indicate a moderate level of trait health anxiety, while a score of 27 indicates a higher probability of meeting DSM-IV criteria for hypochondriasis (Alberts et al., 2013).”
From Health Anxiety and Mental Health Outcome During COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy: The Mediating and Moderating Roles of Psychological Flexibility (2020) · cites this paper as Alberts et al., 2013
In the citing paper
“The SHAI has demonstrated high reliability, criterion validity, and sensitivity to treatment (Alberts, Hadjistavropoulos, Jones, & Sharpe, 2013).”
From Efficacy of internet-delivered acceptance and commitment therapy for severe health anxiety: results from a randomized, controlled trial. (2021) · cites this paper as Alberts et al., 2013
Citations
Cites
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Williams, J. B. W., & First, M. B. (2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.104 · Cited by 109,845
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: the PRISMA statement
Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., & for the PRISMA Group (2009) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.b2535 · Cited by 83,823
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement
Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., & The PRISMA Group (2009) · PLoS Medicine · doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000097 · Cited by 64,042
Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA Statement.
(2009) · PubMed Central · Cited by 44,859
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Widiger, T. A. (2000) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1037/10518-009 · Cited by 19,766
Starting at the beginning: an introduction to coefficient alpha and internal consistency
Streiner, D. L. (2003) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa8001_18 · Cited by 3,794
SALKOVSKIS, P. M., RIMES, K. A., WARWICK, H. M. C., & CLARK, D. M. (2002) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291702005822 · Cited by 1,351
Psychological Predictors of Anxiety in Response to the H1N1 (Swine Flu) Pandemic
Wheaton, M. G., Abramowitz, J. S., Berman, N. C., Fabricant, L. E., & Olatunji, B. O. (2012) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-011-9353-3 · Cited by 509
Prevalence and correlates of clinical insomnia co‐occurring with chronic back pain
TANG, N. K. Y., WRIGHT, K. J., & SALKOVSKIS, P. M. (2007) · Journal of Sleep Research · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2869.2007.00571.x · Cited by 383
Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Hypochondriasis
BARSKY, A. J., & Ahern, D. K. (2004) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.291.12.1464 · Cited by 322
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Wright, 2007, Prevalence and correlates of clinical insomnia co-occurring with chronic back pain, Journal of Sleep Research, 16, 85, 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2007.00571.x · DOI · Paper page
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 201–266 of 266
Weck, F. (2013) · Psychotherapeut · doi:10.1007/s00278-013-1011-7 · Cited by 2
Examining Health Anxiety and Anxiety About Fetal Health During Pregnancy
Reiser, S. J. (2019) · doi:10.82465/5317 · Cited by 3
Worry and Other Mental Health Problems
Jansson‐Fröjmark, M., Bilevicius, E., El-Gabalawy, R. M., & Asmundson, G. J. G. (2020) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781119189909.ch5 · Cited by 4
Mariños, R. M. R., & Baca, A. I. A. (2020) · Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC) · doi:10.19083/tesis/654734 · Cited by 2
Development and Psychometric Evaluation of COVID-19 Distress Scale
Trak, E., Üzümcü, E., İnözü, M., & Hacıömeroğlu, A. B. (2023) · Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi · doi:10.32600/huefd.949751 · Cited by 1
Poshtan, M. M., Aflakseir, A., Witthöft, M., Cherry, M. G., & Ramzi, M. (2024) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2024.111958 · Cited by 1
Carmichael, T. D., & Penney, A. M. (2025) · Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1007/s10942-025-00603-3 · Cited by 1
Development and validation of the PrePain questionnaire for predicting pain
Gedin, F., Hellerström, A., Blomé, S., Jensen, K. B., Andréasson, A., & Lalouni, M. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-09044-5 · Cited by 1
Senger, A. R., Ayers, Z. S., Zvolensky, M. J., & Gallagher, M. W. (2025) · Cognitive Behaviour Therapy · doi:10.1080/16506073.2025.2597846 · Cited by 1
What are the barriers to the SHAI being completed within a ME/CFS service?
Fanous, M., Ryninks, K., & Daniels, J. (2020) · The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist · doi:10.1017/s1754470x20000525 · Cited by 1
Social Support and Health Anxiety during COVID-19 Pandemic
Hou, S. (2022) · Psychology Research and Practice · doi:10.37155/2972-3086-0101-3 · Cited by 1
Thompson, A., Dierick, N. R., Heiniger, L. E., & Kostalas, S. N. (2024) · World Journal of Clinical Oncology · doi:10.5306/wjco.v16.i2.97107 · Cited by 1
Noorifard, M., Neshatdoost, H., & Sajjadian, I. (2019) · Journal of Research in Behavioural Sciences · doi:10.52547/rbs.17.3.424 · Cited by 1
Somatoforme Störungen – somatoforme Belastungsstörung und verwandte Störungen
Kapfhammer, H. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-45028-0_74-1 · Cited by 2
An examination of the relationship between Alexithymia and health anxiety
Zeng, G. (2015) · Murdoch University Research Portal
Assessing Somatoform Disorders with the African American Client
Behbahani, S. M., & Greenstone, R. M. (2014) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-1004-5_17
Bahreini, S., Hafezi, F., & Saad, Z. E. (2014)
Measures of Cognition and Affect
Yamada, K. A. (2016) · Orthopaedic Section, APTA, Inc. eBooks · doi:10.17832/isc.2016.26.1.6
Matsuoka, H., Utsunomiya, M., Yoshida, K., Chiba, I., & Abiko, Y. (2017) · Journal of Japanese Society of Oral Medicine · doi:10.6014/jjsom.23.69
Screening and Assessment in Integrated Primary Care Settings
Goodie, J. L., & Wilfong, K. M. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108235433.032
Health-Related Anxiety in the Management of Oral Soreness in an HIVSeropositive Patient
Mandasari, M., Syarif, Z. O., & Rahmayanti, F. (2020) · Journal of Dentistry Indonesia · doi:10.14693/jdi.v27i1.1121
Kusztor, A., Alemany-González, M., Tsuchiya, N., & Koizumi, A. (2022) · F1000Research · doi:10.12688/f1000research.111280.1
Examining health anxiety among Lynch syndrome carriers
Albiani, J. J. (2021) · doi:10.32920/ryerson.14655069.v1
Axelsson, E., & Hedman‐Lagerlöf, E. (2021) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-818697-8.00231-4
(2020) · Ankara Medical Journal · doi:10.5505/amj.2020.48992
Fergus, T. A., Taylor, S. J., & Asmundson, G. J. G. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-04927-9_3
A Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Chatbot (Otis) for Health Anxiety Management: Pilot Study (Preprint)Preprint
Goonesekera, Y., & Donkin, L. (2022) · doi:10.2196/preprints.37877
Development and Initial Evaluation of the Discomfort Sensitivity Scale
McLeish, A. C., Johnson, A. L., Luberto, C. M., & O’Bryan, E. M. (2022) · International Journal of Cognitive Therapy · doi:10.1007/s41811-022-00146-w
COMPARISON OF HEALTH ANXIETY IN PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROLOGY SETTINGS
Amjad, N., IKRAM-UL-HAQ, M., Mazhar, N. H., Mussadiq, K., SAJIDA, I., & MALIK, A. (2022) · Biological and Clinical Sciences Research Journal · doi:10.54112/bcsrj.v2022i1.133
Jafari, K., Hekmatfar, S., Vahid, D. L., Damirchi, E. S., & Zandian, H. (2023) · Work · doi:10.3233/wor-220370
Who Seeks and Shares Fact-Checking Information? Within the Context of COVID-19 in South Korea
Seo, J., & Lee, J. Y. (2023) · Libri · doi:10.1515/libri-2023-0028
Cruz, R. Z., Restrepo, J. E., & Quirama, T. C. (2024) · Revista de Investigación e Innovación en Ciencias de la Salud · doi:10.46634/riics.266
Flóvenz, S. Ó., Salkovskis, P. M., Gregory, J. D., Valdimarsdottir, H. B., Sigurðsson, E., & Sigurðsson, J. F. (2024) · Nordic Psychology · doi:10.1080/19012276.2024.2342345
A clinician’s quick guide to evidence-based approaches: health anxiety
Mahoney, A., Dobinson, K. A., Millard, M., & Newby, J. M. (2024) · Clinical Psychologist · doi:10.1080/13284207.2024.2402333
Gürçay, B., Yılmaz, F. T., & Bilgin, A. (2024) · Ordu Üniversitesi Hemşirelik Çalışmaları Dergisi · doi:10.38108/ouhcd.1267111
Adaptation and validation of the Health Anxiety Inventory (short version) for medical settings
Colenutt, J., & Daniels, J. (2025) · The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist · doi:10.1017/s1754470x2400045x · Cited by 1
Beames, J. R., Dabash, O., Spoelma, M. J., Shvetcov, A., Zheng, W. Y., Slade, A., Han, J., Hoon, L., Kupper, J. F., Parker, R., et al. (2025) · doi:10.2196/preprints.71377
Grocott, L., King, J. D., McQuaid, A., Leeson, V. C., & Crawford, M. (2025) · medRxiv · doi:10.1101/2025.02.26.25322939
A szomatikus tünet zavarok felismerésének és átfogó mérésének lehetőségei
Kovács, B. D., & Molnár, M. J. (2025) · Mentálhigiéné és Pszichoszomatika · doi:10.1556/0406.2025.00084
Davies, J., Salkovskis, P., Laidlaw, K., & Beck, J. S. (2025) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009090940.019
Axelsson, E., Österman, S., & Hedman-Lagerlöf, E. (2023) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.24098310
Axelsson, E., Österman, S., & Hedman-Lagerlöf, E. (2023) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.24098313
Axelsson, E., Österman, S., & Hedman-Lagerlöf, E. (2023) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.24098307
Wang, L., Duan, J., Yao, F., & Wang, S. (2025) · Aslib Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1108/ajim-01-2025-0013
Yeşiloğlu, C., Tamam, L., Demirkol, M. E., Demireğen, T., Sarıoğlu, C. Y., Fettahlıoğlu, Ö., & ALTIN, D. (2025) · Çukurova medical journal (Online)/Çukurova medical journal · doi:10.17826/cumj.1803773
Feng, J., Wang, Y., & Zang, Y. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1734657
Lau, N., Zhou, C., Hong, S. J., Aalfs, H., Higgins, S., Badillo, I., McCauley, E., Ketterl, T. G., Chow, E. J., Fann, J. R., et al. (2026) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/82665 · Cited by 1
Cheng, J. S.-C., Walske, S. M., Jakes, K. S., & Olatunji, B. O. (2026) · Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2026.101010
Darshan, S., Bodani, N., Lal, A., Maqsood, A., Ahmed, N., Altamash, S., & Heboyan, A. G. (2026) · Health Science Reports · doi:10.1002/hsr2.72180
Terra, M., Baklola, M. I., Al-bawah, N., Rafuid, H. A. B., AL-Othrubi, Z. M., Mohammed, H. Z., sharyan, E., Arrabyee, M. R., Almarebi, M., Arrabyee, A., et al. (2026) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0346296
Bailey, R., Carmichael, T. D., & Penney, A. M. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1766275
Terra, M., Baklola, M. I., Al-bawah, N., Alhalafi, A. H., Alshahrani, A. M., Alhammad, F. A., Aljohani, N. H., Alahmad, S. M. A., Alhamrani, M. A., Alsolami, Y., et al. (2026) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0347337
Callen-Davies, J., Zohhadi, S., & Gregson, N. (2026) · Clinical Case Studies · doi:10.1177/15346501261446311
Fasfoos, A., Sunkrot, M. S., Jadallah, I., Id’eas, A. H., Hoshieh, M., Haytham, T., Aljunaidi, S., Issa, J., Al-Manasrah, A. K., & Ahmoud, A. (2026) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-026-04751-8
Skoko, A., Hlynsson, J. I., Čihařová, M., Berger, T., Carlbring, P., Krieger, T., Bergström, J., Daele, T. V., van Klaveren, C., Cornelisz, I., et al. (2026) · doi:10.2196/preprints.103262
Kumar, V., Sampath, H., Dutta, S., & Soohinda, G. S. (2026) · Eastern Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.5005/jp-journals-11001-0121
Zhang, X., Yang, X., Ba, L., & Chen, R. (2026) · Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science · doi:10.1007/s41347-026-00673-9
Hill, S., Caffyn, K., & Scott, S. (2026) · Clinical Case Reports · doi:10.1002/ccr3.73293
Health Anxiety in Patients with Voice Disorders
Ellis, B., Ferster, A. P. O., & Murrah, C. (2026) · Journal of Voice · doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2026.08.001
Dawood, E., Monica, A., Abdullah, A., Alalyani, G., Alzhrani, N., Alqahtani, F., Ali, G. B., & Shereda, H. M. A. (2026) · Health Science Reports · doi:10.1002/hsr2.72981
Skoko, A., Hlynsson, J. I., Čihařová, M., Berger, T., Carlbring, P., Krieger, T., Bergström, J., Daele, T. V., van Klaveren, C., Cornelisz, I., et al. (2026) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/103262
Forristal, K., Heugten, C. M. V., & Gillespie, D. C. (2026) · Brain Injury · doi:10.1080/02699052.2026.2735355
Metadata
- Authors
- Alberts, N. M., Hadjistavropoulos, H. D., Jones, S. L., & Sharpe, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Regina (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Hadjistavropoulos, Heather D.
- Venue
- Journal of Anxiety Disorders
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-01
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 68-78
- ISSN
- 0887-6185 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1971027823
- Cited by
- 267
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 6
- FWCI
- 1.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Anxiety Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Keywords
- Short Health Anxiety Inventory, health anxiety, psychometric properties, construct validity, factor structure, general anxiety, worry, medical anxiety, non-clinical sample
- MeSH terms
- Anxiety, Humans, Hypochondriasis, Psychometrics, Surveys and Questionnaires, Reproducibility of Results
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
