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Validation of the mental health literacy questionnaire (MHLQ) among undergraduate students in Malaysia

Mental health literacy (MHL) is crucial to recognising, managing, and preventing mental illnesses. However, the study values of MHL studies in Malaysia have been limited as most findings are derived from instruments that have not been properly validated. To provide a validated MHL instrument, this s...

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Main Author: Low, Kah Yue
Format: Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis
Published: 2023
Subjects:
B Philosophy (General)
H Social Sciences (General)
HM Sociology
Online Access:http://eprints.utar.edu.my/6260/1/20AAM03716_DIS.pdf
http://eprints.utar.edu.my/6260/
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spelling my-utar-eprints.62602024-04-04T14:07:45Z Validation of the mental health literacy questionnaire (MHLQ) among undergraduate students in Malaysia Low, Kah Yue B Philosophy (General) H Social Sciences (General) HM Sociology Mental health literacy (MHL) is crucial to recognising, managing, and preventing mental illnesses. However, the study values of MHL studies in Malaysia have been limited as most findings are derived from instruments that have not been properly validated. To provide a validated MHL instrument, this study aimed to examine the suitability of the Mental Health Literacy questionnaire (MHLq) among Malaysian undergraduate students. Study 1 employed a cross-sectional survey to examine the factor structure of the MHLq with 618 undergraduate students. The sample was split randomly into two halves for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). From EFA results, 12 items with the highest factor loadings were retained. CFA results confirmed the first-order four-factor structure with one error covariance of the 12-item MHLq among other competing models (i.e., the one-factor model and the second-order model with one general factor and four first-order factors). Study 2 recruited new samples to verify the model revealed in Study 1 and examine the MHLq-12’s validity. Consistent with Study 1, CFA results showed that the first-order four-factor structure fit the data, and all 12 items were significant. Most MHLq-12 subscales displayed Cronbach’s alpha values of less than 0.7, while ICC values supported their test-retest reliability. iii Results did not support the convergent validity of most MHLq-12 subscales with average variance extracted values below 0.5. Divergent validity was established by a low correlation between MHLq-12 and health literacy measured by HLS-SF12. Most MHLq-12 subscales showed limited evidence for predictive validity on help-seeking and positive mental health. In summary, current findings suggested the potential utility of a brief MHL instrument and discussed reevaluating existing theoretical frameworks for MHL. Modifications on the identified items are recommended to align with the understanding of MHL in the Malaysian context. 2023-09 Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf http://eprints.utar.edu.my/6260/1/20AAM03716_DIS.pdf Low, Kah Yue (2023) Validation of the mental health literacy questionnaire (MHLQ) among undergraduate students in Malaysia. Master dissertation/thesis, UTAR. http://eprints.utar.edu.my/6260/
institution Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
building UTAR Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
content_source UTAR Institutional Repository
url_provider http://eprints.utar.edu.my
topic B Philosophy (General)
H Social Sciences (General)
HM Sociology
spellingShingle B Philosophy (General)
H Social Sciences (General)
HM Sociology
Low, Kah Yue
Validation of the mental health literacy questionnaire (MHLQ) among undergraduate students in Malaysia
description Mental health literacy (MHL) is crucial to recognising, managing, and preventing mental illnesses. However, the study values of MHL studies in Malaysia have been limited as most findings are derived from instruments that have not been properly validated. To provide a validated MHL instrument, this study aimed to examine the suitability of the Mental Health Literacy questionnaire (MHLq) among Malaysian undergraduate students. Study 1 employed a cross-sectional survey to examine the factor structure of the MHLq with 618 undergraduate students. The sample was split randomly into two halves for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). From EFA results, 12 items with the highest factor loadings were retained. CFA results confirmed the first-order four-factor structure with one error covariance of the 12-item MHLq among other competing models (i.e., the one-factor model and the second-order model with one general factor and four first-order factors). Study 2 recruited new samples to verify the model revealed in Study 1 and examine the MHLq-12’s validity. Consistent with Study 1, CFA results showed that the first-order four-factor structure fit the data, and all 12 items were significant. Most MHLq-12 subscales displayed Cronbach’s alpha values of less than 0.7, while ICC values supported their test-retest reliability. iii Results did not support the convergent validity of most MHLq-12 subscales with average variance extracted values below 0.5. Divergent validity was established by a low correlation between MHLq-12 and health literacy measured by HLS-SF12. Most MHLq-12 subscales showed limited evidence for predictive validity on help-seeking and positive mental health. In summary, current findings suggested the potential utility of a brief MHL instrument and discussed reevaluating existing theoretical frameworks for MHL. Modifications on the identified items are recommended to align with the understanding of MHL in the Malaysian context.
format Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis
author Low, Kah Yue
author_facet Low, Kah Yue
author_sort Low, Kah Yue
title Validation of the mental health literacy questionnaire (MHLQ) among undergraduate students in Malaysia
title_short Validation of the mental health literacy questionnaire (MHLQ) among undergraduate students in Malaysia
title_full Validation of the mental health literacy questionnaire (MHLQ) among undergraduate students in Malaysia
title_fullStr Validation of the mental health literacy questionnaire (MHLQ) among undergraduate students in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Validation of the mental health literacy questionnaire (MHLQ) among undergraduate students in Malaysia
title_sort validation of the mental health literacy questionnaire (mhlq) among undergraduate students in malaysia
publishDate 2023
url http://eprints.utar.edu.my/6260/1/20AAM03716_DIS.pdf
http://eprints.utar.edu.my/6260/
_version_ 1797547628894879744
score 13.211869

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