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Original Research

Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of Mental Health Literacy Scale

ORCID Icon, ORCID Icon, ORCID Icon & ORCID Icon
Pages 513-520 | Published online: 06 Jul 2020
 

Abstract

Background

Due to the lack of an instrument to measure mental health literacy among Persian/Farsi speaking people, this study was conducted to examine the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Mental Health Literacy Scale (P-MHLS).

Participants and Methods

The 2019 cross-sectional study with 992 participants was conducted in Tabriz, Iran. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were performed to establish the construct validity of the P-MHLS. The internal consistency/reliability was estimated by computing Cronbach’s coefficient alpha. Feasibility of the scale was examined and item response theory (IRT) models were applied to characterize the test items.

Results

An exploratory factor analysis of data resulted in five factors, which included 30 of the 35 items and accounted for 42.00% of the variance. The construct validity of the 5-factor model was supported by the results of our confirmatory factor analysis. The factors were the 1) ability to recognize mental disorders, 2) confidentiality of mental health practitioners, 3) skills of mental health information seeking, 4) beliefs about mental illnesses, and 5) attitudes toward patients with mental illness.

Conclusion

The study provides initial support for the use of the MHLS among Persian/Farsi speaking adults to assess mental health literacy.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the sincere cooperation of the schools’ staff.

Disclosure

No potential conflicts of interest was reported by the authors.