The SHAI-14, explained.
If you've taken our quiz, your result came from the SHAI-14. This page explains what the questionnaire measures, how the score works, and what it can and can't tell you.
Every research claim on this page links to its primary, citable source (DOI or publisher). Last reviewed: July 2026.
What it is
The SHAI-14 is the 14-item short form of the Short Health Anxiety Inventory, developed by Paul Salkovskis and colleagues (Salkovskis et al., 2002). It's one of the most widely used health anxiety measures in research and clinical practice, and it was designed to work whether or not you also have a physical illness.
Each item gives you four statements about the past six months, for example about how often you worry about your health, how hard illness thoughts are to resist, and what happens when your doctor says nothing is wrong. You pick the one that fits best. The statements are scored 0 to 3, so fourteen items give a total between 0 and 42.
Four optional items (15–18) ask about the imagined consequences of serious illness. They form a separate subscale and are not part of the 0–42 score.
Reading your score
The commonly used screening threshold is 18: the cut-off that best separated health-anxiety patients from healthy controls in validation studies. Above that, research by Österman et al. (2022) maps scores onto severity bands. These are the bands our quiz uses:
Low
Below the screening threshold. Health worries may still bother you; only you know how much space they take up.
Elevated
Above the threshold used to distinguish health-anxiety patients from healthy controls. Not a diagnosis, but a signal worth taking seriously.
Moderate
The range Österman et al. associate with moderate health anxiety. Checking and reassurance-seeking are likely costing real time and energy.
Substantial
The range associated with substantial health anxiety. A strong signal to get support alongside self-help tools.
What the score can't tell you
The SHAI-14 is a screening tool, not a diagnosis. A high score doesn't mean you have a disorder, and a low score doesn't mean health worry isn't costing you anything. Only a qualified clinician can diagnose.
The truer question sits behind the number: does health anxiety get in the way of daily life? If it does, that matters more than where you land on a 42-point scale. And a single score matters less than the direction over time; that's why the Condri app re-checks monthly and watches the trend, not the snapshot.
Take it, keep it
Our free quiz uses the paper-form SHAI-14 items, takes about three minutes, and shows your score, band, and threshold position immediately. No account needed, and you can download your results as a PDF to keep or share with your GP or therapist.
Three minutes to a baseline.
Take the SHAI-14, see your band, and keep your results. Free, no account.
Try Condri