The Spanish validation of the Short Health Anxiety Inventorypsychometric properties and clinical utility

  1. Sandra Arnáez 1
  2. Gemma García-Soriano 1
  3. Jose López-Santiago 2
  4. Amparo Belloch 1
  1. 1 Universitat de València
    info

    Universitat de València

    Valencia, España

    ROR https://ror.org/043nxc105

  2. 2 Universidad Hospital de Albacete
Journal:
International journal of clinical and health psychology

ISSN: 1697-2600

Year of publication: 2019

Volume: 19

Issue: 3

Pages: 251-260

Type: Article

DOI: 10.1016/J.IJCHP.2019.05.003 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: International journal of clinical and health psychology

Abstract

Background/Objective The Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI) is a widely used self-report instrument to evaluate health anxiety. To assess the SHAI's factor structure, psychometric properties, and accuracy in differentiating Spanish non-clinical individuals from patients with severe health anxiety or hypochondriasis. Method A total of 342 community participants (61.6% women; Mage=34.60, SD=14.91) and 31 hypochondriacal patients (51.6% women; Mage=32.74, SD=9.69) completed the SHAI and other self-reports assessing symptoms of hypochondriasis, depression, anxiety sensitivity, worry, and obsessive-compulsive. Results The original two-factor structure was selected as the best structure, based on its parsimony and empirical support (Factor 1: Illness likelihood; Factor 2: Negative consequences of illness). Moreover, the Spanish version of the SHAI demonstrated good construct and concurrent and discriminant validity, and internal consistency. A cutoff of 40.5 (total score) accurately distinguished non-clinical individuals from patients with severe health anxiety or hypochondriasis. Conclusions The SHAI is an adequate screening instrument to measure health anxiety in Spanish-speaking community adults.

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