Psychometric Properties of Global Mental Health Literacy Measures

Purpose: Since its initial development, numerous Mental Health Literacy (MHL)
definitions and associated measures have been created which have yet to be
adequately evaluated. This paper evaluated the psychometric properties of global
MHL measures with the aim of identifying the most valid, reliable, responsive
and interpretable measure.
Design: A systematic review was conducted of studies that evaluated global
MHL measures against at least one of the COnsensus-based Standards for the
selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) taxonomy properties;
validity, reliability, responsivity or interpretability.
Findings: Thirteen studies were identified which examined the psychometric
properties of seven MHL measures. Two of these seven measures were vignette
format and the remaining five measures were questionnaires. The Mental Health
Promoting Knowledge-10 and the Multicomponent Mental Health Literacy
Measure were the most psychometrically robust global MHL measures as they
had the most psychometric properties rated as adequate. Both were shown to
have adequate structural validity, internal consistency and construct validity. The
two vignette measures, the Mental Health Literacy Tool for the Workplace and
the Vignette MHL measure, were both shown to only have adequate evidence for
construct validity.
Originality: The current study is the first to systematically review research that
evaluated the psychometric properties of global measures of MHL.
Keywords: Mental Health Literacy, Mental Health Literacy measures,
psychometric properties of measures, quality of measurement, measurement
properties, systematic review.