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.
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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
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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
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