Preliminary validation of the Mental Health Test in a psychiatric sample

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 4023
• Main Authors: Zábó, Virág, Erát, Dávid, Gonda, Xenia, Harangozó, Judit, Iváncsics, Máté, Vincze, Ágnes, Farkas, Judit, Balogh, Gábor, Oláh, Attila, Kéri, Szabolcs, Purebl, György, Vargha, András
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 18-02-2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/477; 631/477/2811; 692/699/476; Factor analysis; Humanities and Social Sciences; Maintainable Positive Mental Health Theory; Mental disorders; Mental health; Mental health measures; Mental Health Test; multidisciplinary; Patients; Psychiatrists; Psychologists; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sensitivity analysis; Well being; Mental health measures; Mental disorders; Mental Health Test; Maintainable Positive Mental Health Theory; Mental health
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-54537-4

To assist psychiatrists and clinical psychologists to assess their patients’ psychological immune competence-based capacities and resources, depending on the mental health disorder diagnosis and the severity of the symptoms, the present study examined the psychometric properties of the Mental Health Test in a psychiatric sample. The research was carried out in four Hungarian healthcare facilities using a cross-sectional design. A total of 331 patients (140 male, 188 female, and 3 who preferred not to disclose their gender) completed the Mental Health Test, six well-being and mental health measures, and the Symptom Checklist-90. Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists reported the mental disorder status of each participant. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit of the five-factor model to the data for the clinical version of the Mental Health Test (CFI = 0.972, RMSEA = 0.034). High internal consistency coefficients (α: 0.70–0.84; ω: 0.71–0.85) and excellent external and content validity were reported. The test is not sensitive to sociodemographic indicators but is sensitive to the correlates of well-being and to the symptoms of different types of mental disorders. Our preliminary findings suggest that the Mental Health Test is a suitable measure for assessing mental health capacities and resources in psychiatric samples.