MacDonald Franklin OSI Research Centre, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario.
Department of Psychiatry, Western University, London, Ontario.
Health Rep. 2022 May 18;33(5):3-12. doi: 10.25318/82-003-x202200500001-eng.
Compared to the general Canadian population, military members exhibit a higher prevalence of depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder. However, there is a paucity of research investigating the extent to which military members experience positive mental health. Validation of positive mental health measures, including the Mental Health Continuum - Short Form (MHC-SF), is necessary to determine whether well-being can be assessed in a valid and reliable manner among Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) military members. The purpose of this research was to assess the internal consistency reliability, convergent validity, factor structure, and measurement invariance of the MHC-SF among CAF Regular Force and Reserve Force military members.
Data were drawn from the nationally representative 2013 Canadian Forces Mental Health Survey (CFMHS) conducted by Statistics Canada. A random sample of 8,200 CAF military personnel completed the CFMHS, representing 64,400 Regular Force and 4,460 Reserve Force CAF personnel.
As expected, all three MHC-SF subscales (psychological, social, and emotional well-being) correlated positively with life satisfaction, self-rated mental health, sense of belonging, and social support, and correlated negatively with psychological distress and disability due to health conditions. Internal consistency was high. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor structure of the MHC-SF, and measurement invariance was satisfied.
Findings provided support for the reliability, convergent validity, factorial validity, and measurement invariance of the MHC-SF among both Regular Force and Reserve Force military samples. Therefore, researchers and clinicians can reliably implement the MHC-SF as a tool to assess, interpret, and predict military members' psychological, social, and emotional well-being.
与加拿大普通人群相比，军人表现出更高的抑郁障碍、焦虑障碍和创伤后应激障碍患病率。然而，关于军人积极心理健康程度的研究却很少。有必要验证积极心理健康测量方法，包括心理健康连续体-短式量表（MHC-SF），以确定在加拿大武装部队（CAF）军人中，幸福感是否可以以有效且可靠的方式进行评估。本研究的目的是评估 MHC-SF 在 CAF 常备军和预备役军人中的内部一致性信度、收敛效度、因子结构和测量不变性。
数据来自加拿大统计局进行的具有全国代表性的 2013 年加拿大军队心理健康调查（CFMHS）。CAF 军人的随机样本为 8200 人，代表 64400 名常备军和 4460 名预备役 CAF 人员。
正如预期的那样，MHC-SF 的所有三个分量表（心理、社会和情绪健康）与生活满意度、自我评估的心理健康、归属感和社会支持呈正相关，与心理困扰和健康状况引起的残疾呈负相关。内部一致性很高。验证性因子分析支持 MHC-SF 的三因素结构，且测量不变性得到满足。
研究结果为 MHC-SF 在常备军和预备役军人样本中的可靠性、收敛效度、因子有效性和测量不变性提供了支持。因此，研究人员和临床医生可以可靠地实施 MHC-SF，作为评估、解释和预测军人心理、社会和情绪健康的工具。
