Multiculturally Sensitive Mental Health Scale (MSMHS): development, factor analysis, reliability, and validity

Effectively and efficiently diagnosing African Americans' mental health has been a chronically unresolved challenge. To meet this challenge we developed a tool to better understand African Americans' mental health: the Multiculturally Sensitive Mental Health Scale (MSMHS). Three studies reporting the development and initial validation of the MSMHS were conducted with African American student samples. First, an exploratory factor analysis of an initial item pool yielded 5 factors assessing subscales of perceived racism, depression, well-being, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. Second, a confirmatory factor analysis supported the MSMHS's 5-dimensional factor structure. Third, test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and validity coefficients supported the viability, use, and potential for continued development of this new instrument. Implications for theory and research on multicultural mental health scales are discussed.