"student mental health li̇teracy scale for teacher candi̇dates" development research

Aim: Student mental health literacy of teachers is a skill that should be gained before graduation in order to provide students with good mental health, to recognize and manage their mental disorders and to access correct information sources. In our study, it was aimed to develop the Student Mental Health Literacy Scale among Teacher Candidates (ÖRSO-ÖA). Methods: This methodological study was carried out with 4th grade students of Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Education Faculty in 2019. The total population (559) was targeted and 510 (91.2%) students were included in the study. In the data collection, 5-point Likert-type ÖRSO-ÖA which was reduced to 50 items from the pool of 90 items by the expert opinion and the questionnaire form which were created by the researchers was used. In statistical analysis; descriptive statistics, content validity index, item, principal components, exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach Alpha coefficient, bisection method, Tukey's test of additivity, Hotelling's T-Squared, Interclass Correlation Coefficient, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Mann Whitney-U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used, p<0,05 was considered significant. Results: 59.4% of teacher candidates are women, 68.6% of their mother's and 46.3% of their father' education levels are illiterate/literate/primary school graduates. 6.5% of themselves and 13.3% of their families had the psychiatric illness diagnosed by the doctor. The KMO of ÖRSO-ÖA which was reduced to 30 items by item elimination analysis is 0.913, Bartlett Sphericity Test was p<0.001. The scale's total variance, consisting of 7 factors, was 62.07%. Factor1 "Recognizing Mental Health Disorders", Factor2 "Developing and Maintaining Positive Mental Health", Factor3 "Managing Legal Situations", Factor4 "Managing Social Problems", Factor5 "Noticing Harmful Habits", Factor6 "Professional Help", Factor7 "Mental Health" Reaching the Right Information About ". Cronbach Alpha coefficient was 0,908, Guttman Split-Half coefficient was 0,816, Spearman–Brown coefficient was 0,827. The scale score was not summable and it was a strong and homogeneous scale that measures the desired feature (p<0.001). The ordering of the scale items and their compatibility with each other is appropriate (p<0.001). Factor1-2-6-7 scores in women, Factor1-2-4-5-6-7 scores in those who are classroom teachers, Factor5 score in the father education which secondary school/high school/university and above, Factor6 score in those who had no mental illness was higher (p<0.05). Conclusion: ÖRSO-ÖA is a valid and reliable tool for evaluating student mental health literacy levels of teacher candidates. It measures the student mental health literacy level of teacher candidates in 7 factors and does not have a total score. Key words: Mental Health Literacy, Teacher Candidate, Student, Scale, Validity-Reliability.