ArticleBMC pediatrics2021
Development and psychometric properties of the Knowledge and Attitudes to Mental Health Scales (KAMHS): a psychometric measure of mental health literacy in children and adolescents.
Article in BMC pediatrics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Measuring health literacy: A systematic review and bibliometric analysis of instruments from 1993 to 2021.PloS one · 2022Pooled it
- A randomised controlled trial evaluating the Guide Cymru mental health literacy intervention programme in year 9 (age 13-14) school pupils in Wales.BMC public health · 2023Trial
- Development and validation of a rapid health literacy assessment tool for Chinese primary and secondary school students.Health promotion international · 2026Article
- Mental health literacy in youth: a quasi-experimental comparison of a reusable learning object in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Revisiting the knowledge concept of mental health literacy and its relationships with stigma.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Improving Mental Health Literacy Among Iranian Middle School Students: A Quasi-Experimental Intervention.Medical journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran · 2026Article
- Improving mental health literacy of educational professionals: feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of an adapted intervention LEARN-NL.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Australian validation of the Universal Mental Health Literacy Scale for Adolescents.Australian journal of psychology · 2025Article
- Psychometric properties of the Knowledge and Attitudes to Mental Health Scales in a Dutch sample (KAMHS-NL): A comprehensive mental health literacy measure in adolescents.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Mental Health Literacy and its Relationship with Positive Mental Health in Iranian Adolescents.International journal of school health · 2024Article
- Evaluating the effect of an adapted mental health literacy intervention on mental health related stigma among secondary students in Germany: results of a pre-post evaluation study.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Improving Children's Mental Health Literacy Through the Cocreation of an Intervention and Scale Validation: Protocol for the CHILD-Mental Health Literacy Research Study.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- Factors influencing junior high school students' perceptions of attending school in Japan.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2023Article
- Evaluating a prototype digital mental health literacy intervention for children and young people aged 11-15 in Java, Indonesia: a mixed methods, multi-site case study evaluation.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2023Article
- The effects of an adapted mental health literacy curriculum for secondary school students in Germany on mental health knowledge and help-seeking efficacy: results of a quasi-experimental pre-post evaluation study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Critical life course interventions for children and adolescents to promote mental health.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2023Review
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAdolescence is a crucial period for the acquisition of good mental health behaviours, which are the foundation for health and wellbeing in later life. Improved knowledge about mental health and improved help-seeking behaviours have been shown to lead to better mental health outcomes. Mental health literacy (MHL) is multifaceted (e.g., knowledge about symptoms, the stigma around mental health, good mental health practices, etc.). Measures are needed that can assess these different aspects of MHL. Measurement of mental health literacy is currently limited due to a lack of reported psychometric instruments with known psychometric properties. Given that most mental health problems start in early adolescence, a scale is needed that is reliable and valid in this age group.
methodsThe development and validation of the psychometric instrument (termed the Knowledge and Attitudes to Mental Health Scales: KAMHS) entailed two phases: 1) item generation based on an evidence-based intervention programme: The Guide; and 2) item reduction through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for factor structure and psychometric assessment. Participants were 559 Year 9 pupils in secondary schools across Wales aged between 13 and 14 years.
resultsResults from the CFA indicated an acceptable fit of the model to the data. The KAMHS showed good internal constancy and moderate test-retest validity (.40-.64).
conclusionsThe final version of the KAMHS contains 50 items that are appropriate for use in children and adolescents. These results suggest that the KAMHS can be used over time to assess the efficacy of interventions aimed at increasing the mental health literacy of adolescent populations.
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