Mental health scales: A systematic review of their psychometric properties in university students

Tapullima-Mori C. · Interdisciplinaria (2024) · DOI: 10.16888/interd.2024.41.2.4

Resumen

The evaluation of mental health and positive mental health today has become a necessity; however, having instruments for its diagnosis that have adequate standards according to the field of study represents an ally to be considered, in this sense the study aimed to analyze the psychometric properties of the scales of mental health and positive mental health in students’ university students between 2011–2021 in databases containing scientific literature. Fifteen scientific articles were presented as units of analysis, which were obtained from the DOAJ, EBSCO, SCOPUS, PUBMED and SCIELO databases, using search strategies “psychometric properties” and “mental health scale”, “psychometric” and “ properties” and “mental health scale” and “positive mental health”, “psychometric properties” or “mental health scale” respectively. The systematization of the data on the psychometric properties of the mental health and positive mental health scales that was carried out in five databases (DOAJ = 809), (EBSCO = 5414), (SCOPUS = 17), (PUBMED = 2000) and (SCIELO = 72) evidenced 8312 articles in general; after the analysis of the titles, 78 articles were obtained, these met the inclusion criteria, in the same way the abstract review included 31 articles, of these 6 were excluded and a total of 25 articles remained, after the final review of the articles. documents, a total of 15 articles were obtained that met the evaluation characteristics; that is to say (complies with the proposed objective, adequate definition of the method, use of pertinent instruments, clear presentation of the results, adequate discussion, and coherence in the discussion). Of the 15 items, two belonged to Turkey as well as Germany and Iran; Only one of the studies was found in a Chinese university population, in Poland, Spain, Brazil, Colombia, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, respectively. All the studies presented a psychometric design, a total of 21, 961 university students participated as a sample and the predominant objectives were to analyze, evaluate, adapt, translate, examine, and test the scales. To evaluate mental health and positive mental health, eight scales were known, which had adequate factorial models; In addition, significant relationships between the convergent and divergent scales were evidenced. Validity and reliability were within the range of applicability and there was adequate measurement invariance. The main scales to assess mental health and positive mental health in university students were eight Positive Mental Health Scale, Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, Lluch Positive Mental Health Scale, Mental Health Comprehension Scale, Attitude Scale Mental Health, Multicomponent Mental Health Literacy Measure, Mental Health Inventory MHI-38 and MHI-18); of these, the factorial models proposed in his theory were adequately matched to their population. In addition, significant relationships between the convergent and divergent scales were evidenced, which allowed their applicability within the studied context. Similarly, they were validated for their internal structure and trusted only by Cronbach’s Alpha with indices appropriate to the general scale as well as its components; Although equity indices were not further explored, adequate measurement invariance was observed in the results. The study showed limitations related to the type of sample, the procedure for obtaining the information and the representativeness of the population; In this sense, it is important that future studies propose mental health assessments in university students from public and private institutions, to identify their measurement invariance together with other sociodemographic data that characterize each region. On the other hand, future researchers or university students must develop normative data by region, which allow obtaining efficient instruments to carry out rapid screenings on mental health and positive mental health in university students; Similarly, clarify the difference between mental health and positive mental health, since in many scenarios they are confused as if they were one and the same. Finally, the analyzed scales present adequate psychometric properties in university students. © (2024), (Centro Interamericano de Investigaciones Psicologicas y Ciencias Afines). All rights reserved.

Instituciones: Universidad César Vallejo