Evaluation of psychometric properties and factor structure of the Polish version of Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI)

Abstract

Aim of the studyThe aim of the study was to adapt english language version of Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI) developed by Salkovskis et all., to Polish conditions and to investigate its psychometric properties and factor structure in clinical and non-clinical samples.Subject or material and methodsA total of 296 subjects participated in this study: 172 clinical samples (46% females and 54% males; mean age: 57,29 ± 13,01 years) and 124 non-clinical samples (51% females and 49% males; mean age: 54,45 ± 13,63). They completed the polish language version of an 18-item SHAI and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A). To assess psychometric proporties, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, item-total statistics, construct and convergent validity, and analysis of ROC curves were performed.ResultsThe internal consistency (Cronbach's α of 0,91 and 0,92) and the test-retest reliability (r=0,91 and r=0,94) was excellent for both samples. Correlational analysis revealed a significant relationship of anxiety to SHAI total score and to each of two SHAI subscales. Using the factor analysis, two-factors solution were found, which accounted 48% and 49% of the variance, respectively. A cut-off score of 20 was optimal for detecting severe form of health anxiety in clinical and non-clinical samples, considering the best balance between specificity and sensitivity.DiscussionDespite the widespread application of SHAI, polish language version was not created to this time. The results of the psychometric properties of the scale, confirmed a high reliability and accuracy of the proposed solutions.ConclusionsThis findings provide that polish language version of the SHAI is reliable and valid instrument to detect health anxiety.