Assessing mental health literacy among Danish adolescents - development and validation of a multifaceted assessment tool (the Danish MeHLA questionnaire)

It is recognized that mental health literacy is vital in both the prevention of mental health problems and in mental health promotion and empowerment of adolescents. In spite of this, only a limited number of tools assessing mental health literacy among adolescents have been developed and most of these have not been adequately tested. In this study, a questionnaire assessing mental health literacy was developed and tested using a three-step approach: 1) item generation in which the principles of public patient involvement were essential, 2) item testing and 3) exploration of psychometric properties. Internal consistency of the questionnaire was determined through Cronbach's alpha and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in order to determine the construct validity of the questionnaire. The results demonstrated partly skewed data, good internal consistency, good Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin and acceptable results in the goodness of fit index. The initial results suggest that the questionnaire developed and validated in this study is valuable in assessing mental health literacy and could provide useful, essential information on the topic. It thus appears to be a promising tool in the promotion and improvement of mental health and early intervention of mental health problems among adolescents.