Abstract

Background and Aim: Early and early detection of psychological distress and ensuring the psychological health levels of military personnel using screening tools is of great importance in increasing the performance and combat capability of the armed forces. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Iranian version of the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-38) in military personnel and to compile a lie detector scale for it. Methods: The present study was a descriptive and correlational psychometric design. The statistical population included all the employees of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, from which 420 people were selected by cluster sampling. The Mental Health Inventory (MHI-38), the Beck Anxiety Scale (BAI), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDA-II) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) were used to collect data. Face validity and internal consistency were assessed using qualitative method and Cronbach's alpha coefficient, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficient was also used to evaluate the reliability of retest, concurrent validity, divergent validity and convergent validity. Results: The internal consistency values of the Cronbach's alpha mental health checklist for well-being and psychological distress and the whole scale were 0.79, 0.80 and 0.81, respectively. Also, the reliability coefficient of the retest was calculated to be 0.79, 0.76 and 0.75, respectively. Simultaneous validity of the mental health inventory was -0.55 for psychological well-being and 0.65 for psychological helplessness. Also, divergent validity for well-being and psychological helplessness was -0.59 and -0.64, respectively, and convergent validity was 0.65 and 0.51, respectively. All coefficients were significant at the level of P <0.01. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it can be said that the mental health inventory has good reliability and validity and can be used for research and clinical purposes in the field of mental health of the military. © 2021 Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.