Factor Structure analysis, Validity and Reliability of the Health Anxiety Inventory—Short Form

The purpose of this study was to examine the factor structure, validity and reliability of the Health Anxiety Inventory—Short Form. 500 participants (170 male and 326 female) were randomly selected. Convergent validity of Health Anxiety Inventory—Short Form with Yale – Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale modified For BDD, The Obsessive–Compulsive Inventory-Revised and Depression Anxiety Stress Scales 21-item version were r=0.45, r=0.51 and r=0.7(P<0.001). Confirmatory factor analyses revealed, HAI—SF (18 items) assessing impairment and the other symptom severity (18 items each). Results suggest that health anxiety, as measured by the HAI—SF, adequately fits the current data. The Cronbach's alpha for total factor was 0.89. Moreover, results were shown to possess good psychometric properties, as well as discriminant validity and classification accuracy, in both clinical and community populations. It can be concluded that this instrument is a useful measure for assessing the health anxiety and hypochondria symptoms in clinical assessment.