Karimi J¹ * (PhD), Homayuni Najafabadi A² (MA), Homayuni Najafabadi F¹ (BS)

  ¹ Department of Psychology, School of Literature and Humanity Science, University of Malayer, Malayer, Iran

  ² Department of Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Shahid Chamran, Ahvaz, Iran

  Original Article

  Received: 13 Sep 2014, Accepted: 17 Dec 2014

  Abstract

  Introduction: Although hypochondriasis is classified as a form of Somatoform Disorders , cognitive - behavioral theories consider it as the extreme form of health anxiety. This study aimed to translate and evaluate the reliability and validity of the Short Form Health Anxiety Inventory.

  Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 363 students (140 males and 223 females) studying at Malayer University were selected through convenience sampling method. Students filled out the Short Form Health Anxiety Inventory, depression, anxiety, stress, general health questionnaire and the acceptance and action questionnaire II. The test-retest reliability and Cronbach's alpha coefficient were used to assess the reliability and the convergent validity method and confirmatory factor analysis were used to assess the validity

  Results: The Cronbach's alphas were 0.76 for the risk of disease, 0.63 for the negative effect of disease, and 0.79 for the total questionnaire. Concurrent validity of the short form health anxiety questionnaire was correlated with the public health (0.42), experiential avoidance (0.31), anxiety (0.47), stress (0.32), and depression (0.34) items. The confirmatory factor analysis showed that the two-factor and three-factor structure of this questionnaire were both acceptably fit.

  Conclusion: The results of this study showed that The Short Health Anxiety Inventory is a reliable and valid questionnaire for research on hypochondriasis disorder and health anxiety.

  Key words: Short Health Anxiety Inventory, health anxiety, student, validation

  Please cite this article as follows:

  Karimi J, Homayuni Najafabadi A, Homayuni Najafabadi F. Evaluation of psychometric properties of the Health Anxiety Inventory. Hakim Health Sys Res 2015 17(4): 297- 305.

  * Corresponding Author: Departmen t of Psychology, School of Literature and Humanity Science, University of Malayer, Malayer, Iran. Tel:+98- 913- 2756241, F ax: +98- 81- 33339880 , E-mail: dr.karimi10@yahoo.com