Yifeng Wei1, Patrick J McGrath2, Jill Hayden3, Stan Kutcher4. 1. a Sun Life Financial Chair in Adolescent Mental Health team, IWK Health Centre and Dalhousie University , Halifax , Canada. 2. b IWK Health Centre, Nova Scotia Health Authority and Dalhousie University , Halifax , Canada. 3. c Centre for Clinical Research , and. 4. d Department of Psychiatry , Dalhousie University , Halifax , Canada.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Mental health literacy is important to improve help-seeking behaviors. However, the quality of mental health help-seeking tools remains unknown. AIMS: We conducted a systematic review to appraise the quality of such tools. METHODS: We searched databases for English publications addressing psychometrics of help-seeking tools. We included help-seeking tools addressing mental health in general and tools on four mental disorders: anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and schizophrenia. We determined the methodological quality of studies as "excellent", "good", "fair", or "indeterminate". We ranked the level of evidence of each measurement property as "strong", "moderate", "limited", "conflicting" or "unknown". RESULTS: We found 12 help-seeking tools in 24 studies that assessed related psychometrics. The methodological quality of included studies ranged from "poor" to "excellent" with four studies on the content validity, structural validity or internal consistency demonstrating "excellent" quality. Three tools demonstrated overall strong evidence (content or structural validity); eight tools demonstrated moderate evidence (internal consistency, structural or construct validity); and eight tools demonstrated limited evidence (reliability, construct validity or internal consistency). CONCLUSIONS: We recommend the application of tools with strong or moderate evidence for their psychometric properties. Future research may focus on the generalizability of the tools across diverse settings.
BACKGROUND: Mental health literacy is important to improve help-seeking behaviors. However, the quality of mental health help-seeking tools remains unknown. AIMS: We conducted a systematic review to appraise the quality of such tools. METHODS: We searched databases for English publications addressing psychometrics of help-seeking tools. We included help-seeking tools addressing mental health in general and tools on four mental disorders: anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and schizophrenia. We determined the methodological quality of studies as "excellent", "good", "fair", or "indeterminate". We ranked the level of evidence of each measurement property as "strong", "moderate", "limited", "conflicting" or "unknown". RESULTS: We found 12 help-seeking tools in 24 studies that assessed related psychometrics. The methodological quality of included studies ranged from "poor" to "excellent" with four studies on the content validity, structural validity or internal consistency demonstrating "excellent" quality. Three tools demonstrated overall strong evidence (content or structural validity); eight tools demonstrated moderate evidence (internal consistency, structural or construct validity); and eight tools demonstrated limited evidence (reliability, construct validity or internal consistency). CONCLUSIONS: We recommend the application of tools with strong or moderate evidence for their psychometric properties. Future research may focus on the generalizability of the tools across diverse settings.
Entities:
Keywords:
help-seeking tools; mental health literacy; psychometrics; quality of measurement properties; systematic review
Authors: Hsing-Jung Chao; Yin-Ju Lien; Yu-Chen Kao; I-Chuan Tasi; Hui-Shin Lin; Yin-Yi Lien Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2020-02-04 Impact factor: 3.390