title: Health anxiety: comparison of the latent structure in medical and non-medical samples.
abstract: The Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI; Salkovskis, Rimes, Warwick, & Clark, 2002) is a self-report measure designed to assess health anxiety in both medical and non-medical samples. The invariance of the factor structure across these samples has not been examined in the 14-item version of the SHAI. In the current study, the SHAI was completed by a community sample with no serious medical conditions (n=232) and a medical sample with multiple sclerosis (n=245). Factor analysis implied the same two-factor solution for both samples, with the two factors labelled: (1) Thought Intrusion, and (2) Fear of Illness. Item loadings were invariant across the medical and non-medical samples, but the two factors were more strongly correlated in the non-medical sample. Implications of the findings as well as directions for future research are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada. Heather.Hadjistavropoulos@uregina.ca
authors.forename: Nicole M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Alberts
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sharpe
authors.forename: Melissa D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Kehler
authors.forename: Heather D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Hadjistavropoulos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires