title: Psychometric properties of the Positive Mental Health Scale (PMH-scale).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In recent years, it has been increasingly recognized that the absence of mental disorder is not the same as the presence of positive mental health (PMH). With the PMH-scale we propose a short, unidimensional scale for the assessment of positive mental health. The scale consists of 9 Likert-type items.
  
  
  METHODS
  The psychometric properties of the PMH-scale were tested in a series of six studies using samples from student (n = 5406), patient (n = 1547) and general (n = 3204) populations. Factorial structure and measurement equivalence were tested with the measurement invariance testing. The factor models were analysed with the maximum likelihood procedure. Internal consistency was examined using Cronbach's alpha, test-retest reliability, convergent and divergent validity was examined by Pearson correlation. Sensitivity to (therapeutic) change was examined with the t-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results confirmed unidimensionality, scalar invariance across samples and over time, high internal consistency, good retest-reliability, good convergent and discriminant validity as well as sensitivity to therapeutic change.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that the PMH-Scale indeed measures a single concept and allows us to compare scores over groups and over time. The PMH-scale thus is a brief and easy to interpret instrument for measuring PMH across a large variety of relevant groups.
authors: Mental Health and Treatment Center, Ruhr-University Bochum, Massenbergstraße 9-13, 44787, Bochum, Germany. justina.lukat@rub.de.
authors: Justina
authors: J
authors: Lukat
authors: Mental Health and Treatment Center, Ruhr-University Bochum, Massenbergstraße 9-13, 44787, Bochum, Germany.
authors: Jürgen
authors: J
authors: Margraf
authors: University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
authors: Rainer
authors: R
authors: Lutz
authors: Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors: William M
authors: WM
authors: van der Veld
authors: Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors: Eni S
authors: ES
authors: Becker
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires