Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI-18)
Psychology: Mental HealthReliability: alpha 0.923 sample items
About this scale
An 18-item self-report measure of health anxiety (illness anxiety) across two factors: illness likelihood and negative consequences of illness.
Sample item(s)
“I do not worry about my health (reverse)”
“I find that I am often aware of various sensations going on in my body”
“I am always concerned about whether I have a serious illness”
Reliability
Reported internal consistency: alpha 0.92. As a rule of thumb, Cronbach’s α ≥ .70 is considered acceptable, ≥ .80 good, and ≥ .90 excellent for established measures.
Notes
Free for academic use.
Source & citation
Salkovskis, P. M., Rimes, K. A., Warwick, H. M. C., & Clark, D. M. (2002): The Health Anxiety Inventory: Development and validation of scales for the measurement of health anxiety and hypochondriasis. Psychological Medicine, Vol. 32, No. 5, pp. 843–853.
Source. Scale details are summarised from the publication cited above. Always consult the original source for the full item set, scoring, and permission to use.
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