Self-Evaluation of Breathing Questionnaire (SEBQ)
25 statements about how your breathing feels: the breathing-specific companion to the Nijmegen questionnaire
The Self-Evaluation of Breathing Questionnaire was developed by osteopath and breathing researcher Rosalba Courtney with Kenneth Greenwood and published in 2009, with the current 25-item version following soon after. Where the Nijmegen questionnaire was written for hyperventilation and includes tingling, palpitations, and anxiety, the SEBQ asks only about breathing: whether it feels shallow, restricted, effortful, irregular, or unsatisfying. That makes it better suited to the biomechanical breathing pattern disorders (upper-chest breathing, breath-holding, mouth breathing) that are common after respiratory infections and in people with POTS and ME/CFS.
You rate each of 25 statements from 0 (never / not true at all) to 3 (very frequently / very true), for a total of 0–75. The 2016 reliability study by Mitchell and colleagues found the questionnaire very consistent over two weeks (ICC 0.89) and a community average of about 15. A threshold of 25 or more is used in practice as a marker of dysfunctional breathing, on expert opinion rather than validation. Respiratory physiotherapy services increasingly use the SEBQ alongside the Nijmegen in long COVID assessment.
The questionnaire is presented in two pages of 12–13 statements and takes about five minutes. If you have not done the Nijmegen questionnaire, the two together give a fuller picture: the Nijmegen for the systemic symptoms of over-breathing, the SEBQ for the breathing sensations themselves.
Your SEBQ score
Your highest-rated statements
Understanding your score
The threshold of 25 comes from expert opinion (Kiesel and colleagues, 2017) and the 2026 European Respiratory Society-linked review of breathing pattern disorder repeats that it has not been verified against a reference standard. In Mitchell's 2016 community sample of 180 adults the mean was 15.1 (SD 11.6); smoking, respiratory disease, a recent respiratory illness, and female sex all raised scores. So the questionnaire measures breathing symptom burden well and reliably, but where "normal" ends is a judgement.
The original 2009 analysis found two groups of items: sensations of not getting enough air (air hunger), and sensations of restricted, effortful, or inappropriate breathing. The first group overlaps with the Nijmegen questionnaire; the second does not, which is the SEBQ's added value. Looking at which statements you rated highest tells you which pattern dominates.
In long COVID, breathing pattern disorder is common and treatable with breathing retraining from a respiratory physiotherapist. If your score is high, particularly if the Nijmegen is also above 23, ask your GP about referral. Breathlessness that is new, severe, or accompanied by chest pain, swelling, or low oxygen readings needs medical assessment regardless of any questionnaire.
This is not a diagnosis. Discuss your results with your doctor or specialist.