Psychometric Properties of the Chinese Version of Short-Form Community Attitudes Toward Mentally Illness Scale in Medical Students and Primary Healthcare Workers

Abstract

Objective: To assess the psychometric properties of the short form Community Attitudes toward Mentally Illness (SF-CAMI) scale among medical students and primary healthcare workers in China. Methods: Original English version CAMI was translated following a standard procedure. and then short-form CAMI developed through the multistage procedure. The psychometric properties were tested among two separate samples which contained 1,092 primary healthcare workers and 1,228 medical students. Reliability was assessed by internal consistency reliability and test–retest reliability. Exploratory factor and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to determine the structure and to assess the validity of the scale. Results: The Chinese version of SF-CAMI consists of 20 items and with three subscales: Benevolence, Fear and Exclusion, and Support and Tolerance. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated good fitting models for medical students and primary healthcare workers. The Cronbach α of total scale for both samples was good (0.82 for medical students and 0.85 for primary healthcare workers), and acceptable test–retest reliability was found (intraclass correlation coefficient is 0.62 for medical students and 0.60 for primary healthcare workers). Conclusion: The Chinese version of SF-CAMI performed good reliability and validity among both primary healthcare workers and medical students, provide more feasible and available tools for assessing the effect of mental health service programs in China.