Additional Validation of the Attitudes toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale

Abstract

To provide information on the construct validity of the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help scale, relationships between prior treatment experiences and scores on the scale were evaluated. Participants were 270 students recruited from undergraduate psychology courses at a medium-sized university in the midwestern USA. 79% were women: their ages ranged from 18 to 53 years (M= 19.0, SD=4.4). In addition to completing the scale, the subset of 76 participants who reported prior mental health care treatment also evaluated these experiences using a rating scale anchored by 0: very dissatisfied and 4: very satisfied. For the total sample, prior experience with the mental health care delivery system was associated with higher scores on the scale, denoting more positive attitudes. In the subgroup with prior treatment experience, evaluation ratings were also associated with treatment attitudes, accounting for 17% of the variance in their scale score. These results provide additional support for the construct validity of this scale.