Validity and Reliability Study of the Turkish Form of the 4th Version of the Mental Illness: Clinicians' Attitudes (MICA) Scale

Objective: The purpose of this study is to adapt the Mental Illness: Clinician Attitude scale version 4 (MICA-v4) into Turkish, conduct validity and reliability study. Method: The Turkish version of MICA-v4 was administered to 249 healthcare workers, including medical students, nurses, and physicians, and responses were collected in sealed envelopes. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) were employed to assess the structural validity of the scale. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were calculated to demonstrate reliability. The Beliefs Toward Mental Illness scale (BTMI) was used to assess criterion-related validity. Results: EFA yielded a three-factor solution explaining 53.88% of the total variance. Subscales were named MICA-Care (attitudes towards health/social care and views on mental illnesses), MICA-Stereotypes (stereotypes about mental illnesses), and MICA-Social interaction (social interactions with individuals with mental illnesses). Item factor loadings ranged from 0.469 to 0.852. Model fit indices calculated through CFA were at an acceptable level. The scale demonstrated good internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.774. Significant correlations were observed between MICA scores and BTMI scale scores. Conclusion: The findings of the study indicate that the Turkish version of MICA-v4 is valid and reliable. It is considered a useful tool for studies addressing stigma towards mental illnesses among healthcare workers in Türkiye.