Assessing health anxiety with the Greek SHAI: psychometric properties and identification of correlates and predictors

Abstract

Background: The Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI) is one of the most widely used measures of health anxiety. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the SHAI, gender differences and the relationship of its two factors with experiential avoidance and attentional control. Methods: 355 university students (276 female; 18-27 years old) completed the SHAI, Acceptance and Action Questionnaire II and Attentional Control Scale. Findings: Results of principal component analysis with direct oblimin rotation supported the two factor structure of the SHAI, i.e. health anxiety score and consequences score, indicating good internal reliability within each factor and significant inter-correlation between the two factors. A t-test showed differences only for the health anxiety score, with females reporting higher levels compared to men. Multiple regression analyses, controlling for gender, indicated that experiential avoidance significantly predicted health anxiety score, while both experiential avoidance and attentional control were significant predictors of the consequences score. Discussion: These findings provide evidence for the good psychometric properties of the Greek SHAI as a measure of health anxiety. Preliminary evidence is also obtained regarding the link between increased experiential avoidance and low attentional control with higher health anxiety levels, which replicates similar findings in the relevant research field.