The construction, effectiveness and reliability of mental health inventory among students in Malaysia

The research aims to construct, acquire the validity and reliability of Mental Health Inventory (MHI). The MHI's questionnaire aims to measure the level of Mental Health for the subscales of positive and negative thoughts, positive and negative feelings and positive and negative behaviors of individuals aged 13 to 19. The construction of MHI is based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy theoretical basis pioneered by Aeron Beck (1967). This inventory contains 60 items that measure 3 subscales. Subscale 1: Positive and negative thoughts, subscale 2: Positive and negative, subscale 3: Positive and negative behavior. Each subscale has 20 positive items and 10 negative items. In order to achieve the reliability, MHI was evaluated by eight expertise consisting of 4 academicians and 4 specialists in psychology, counseling and education. 146 students were chosen to be the respondents from schools in the state of Perak to achieve the reliability. The overall validity of MHI is acceptable which at 0.7864 (78.64%). The value of reliability indicates the acceptable value of 0.731. Hence, this research has successfully developed a questionnaire of MHI which has the value of validity and reliability and it also accepted for Malaysian education usage.