Translation and Validation of Mental Health Inventory

The present study aimed to translate and validate Mental Health Inventory (Veit & Ware, 1983). It was done in three phases. Phase I involved the translation of Mental Health Inventory through back translation method. Phase II aimed at establishing psychometric properties of the measure. For this purpose, sample consisting of 600 individuals (325 men, 275 women) with age ranging between 21 to 50 years was taken from different spheres of life. Psychometric properties were determined by item-total correlation, alpha reliability coefficients, and exploratory factor analysis. Factor analysis revealed two factors namely Psychological Well-Being and Psychological Distress. Results showed that mental health was positively correlated with psychological well-being and negatively correlated with psychological distress. Similarly, psychological well-being was negatively correlated with psychological distress. Results also indicated significant gender differences on psychological well-being and psychological distress as men reflected higher psychological distress and less psychological well-being as compared to women. Translated Mental Health Inventory was validated in Phase III by comparing people diagnosed with and without Major Depressive Disorder. Sample consisted of 80 individuals with equal number of diagnosed and healthy individuals taken from different hospitals. There were significant differences between both groups as healthy people reflected better mental health than diagnosed patients. Future implications of the study were also discussed.