Development of the Adolescents' Attitude towards Psychological Help Scale and the Adolescents' Intention to Seek Psychological Help Scale: Validity and Reliability Study

Objective: This study aimed to develop the Adolescents' Attitude Towards Psychological Help Scale (AATPHS) and the Adolescents' Intention to Seek Psychological Help Scale (ISPHS) in order to determine adolescents' attitudes and intentions towards seeking psychological help. Method: In this study, AFA and DFA were applied to examine the construct validity of the measurement tools. AFA was used to discover the underlying factor structure of the scale items, and the accuracy of the obtained structure was tested with DFA. Results: The total variance explained by AATPHS was found to be 60.56%, and the total variance explained by ISPHS was found to be 57.48%. A total of 600 students participated in the study for AATPHS and 684 students for ISPHS . AATPHS consists of two subscales (self-stigmatisation, social stigmatisation) and nine items. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for AATPHS was 0.86: 0.85 for the social stigmatisation subscale and 0.73 for the self-stigmatisation subscale. ISPHS consists of three subscales problems related to negative emotions (PRNE), problems related to negative thoughts (PRNT), and personal and social development (PSD) and 22 items. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for ISPHS was found to be 0.94; for the PRNE subscale, it was 0.91; for the PRNT subscale, it was 0.77; and for the PSD subscale, it was 0.89. According to criterion validity results, a relationship was found between AATPHS and the Attitude Scale Towards Psychological Help (ASTPH) (r = 0.71; p < 0.001) and between ISPHS and the Psychological Help-Seeking Intention Inventory (PHSII) (r = 0.71; p < 0.001). Conclusion: The research findings indicate that the AATPHS and ISPHS scales are valid and reliable measurement tools that can be used to determine attitudes and intentions toward seeking psychological help.