Abstract:

Objective: This study was conducted on the Turkish validity and reliability study of the Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLq) in young adults. Methods: This methodological investigation was carried out throughout the 2018–2019 academic year at a public university. The MHL, created by Dias et al. in 2018, and a sociodemographic data form were used to gather the data. 350 students between the ages of 18 and 25 participated in the study. Results: The scale was translated from the original language into Turkish, professional opinion was sought, and to translate it into Turkish, a pilot study was conducted. The content validity index, confirmatory factor analysis, item analyses, reliability, Cronbach's alpha analysis, and test-retest scores were used to test the scale validity as well as its construct validity, internal consistency, and time invariance. The scale is four-dimensional, as was found. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the scale's item loads varied between 0.40 and 0.73 while its content validity was 0.98. Its 0.91 Cronbach's alpha value was discovered. The participants' average mental health literacy scores were 84.45±7.80. Conclusions: The analyses made showed that the MHLq could be safely used as a measurement tool for young adults’ mental health literacy.

Keywords: