2.2.1. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)

The STAI scale is built of two independent subsections. Each part includes 20 items. The first part, STAI X-1, evaluates anxiety as an emotional state at the moment. The second part, STAI X-2, assesses anxiety as a personality trait [15]. The respondent chooses one of the 4 statements for each item. The sum of all the answers for each individuals determines the overall level of anxiety. The score for each subsection is between 20 and 80 points. The higher the total score, the higher the level of anxiety experienced. Suspicion of an anxiety disorders occurs when the sum of the points is 39–40 [16,17].

#### 2.2.2. Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI)

The Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI) is a scale that consists of 18 items and is used to assess anxiety in two aspects: probability of the disease and the negative effects of the disease. Each of the 18 statements contains four options. Respondents choose the one that best describes their emotions over the past 6 months.

The responses are rated on a 4-point Likert scale, where: 0 indicates lack of symptoms, 1—mild symptoms, 2—severe symptoms, and 3—very severe symptoms. The cut-off point for detecting health anxiety is 20 points [18,19].
