RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Validating the Spanish Mental Health Support Scale: A school-based approach to enhancing assessment and support for adolescents and future school health educators
A1 Alonso Martínez, Laura
A1 Sierra Medina, María José
A1 Armas Junco, Laura
A1 Soto Cámara, Raúl
A1 Fernández Hawrylak, María
A1 Lu, Shurong
K1 Adolescent
K1 Help-seeking intention
K1 Measurement
K1 Mental health first aid
K1 Mental health literacy
K1 Adolescentes-Salud mental
K1 Teenagers-Mental health
K1 Psicometría
K1 Psychometrics
AB Promoting mental health literacy among adolescents is crucial for early prevention and intervention of mental health problems in school settings. This study aimed to develop and validate the Spanish Mental Health Support Scale for Adolescents (MHSSA). This study involved 578 responses (ages 13–52 years, M = 20.28, SD = 6.29) from both secondary school students in Burgos and future school health education professionals in Burgos and Oviedo, Spain. The questionnaire was composed of the standardised Spanish MHSSA scale and six additional standardised scales. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a two-factor structure (α = 0.88), comprising helpful and harmful intentions subscales. The Spanish MHSSA also demonstrated good test–retest reliability (ICC = 0.88). Initially, adolescents exhibited lower levels of mental health support behaviours compared to future school health educators, while post-intervention results showed significant improvements in support-seeking behaviours. Higher-quality support intentions were observed among women, post-test participants, individuals with prior lived experience of mental health problems, and future health professionals. These results demonstrate reasonable construct validity, further supported by the finding that scores on the Spanish MHSSA are also associated with lower social restrictive attitudes toward mental health problems (measured by the CAMI) and higher mental health literacy (measured by the MHLI). The findings indicate that the Spanish MHSSA is a valid and reliable tool for assessing both adolescents' and school health educators' intentions to engage in mental health–supportive behaviours.
PB Elsevier
SN 0001-6918
YR 2026
FD 2026
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10259/11942
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10259/11942
LA spa
NO Open-access funding is provided by the University of Burgos. This study has been fully or partially funded by the call for research projects of the Spanish Association of Deans of Nursing Faculties (CNDE) to Dr. Laura Alonso Martínez (grant number PINV_12CNDE23).
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Burgos
RD 17-ago-2026