Provision and Standardization of Mental Health Questionnaire Based on Islamic Teachings

Background and Psychologists mainly pointed out the positive effects of religion on human life. According to the Islamic teachings, spiritual health is among the characteristics of a perfect human. This study sought to design a mental health questionnaire based on the Islamic teachings and to confirm its validity and reliability. The study population included the undergraduate students of public universities of Tehran, Iran, in 2014.
This study was conducted on 500 participants who were randomly selected through cluster sampling method. They completed the mental health questionnaire based on Islamic teachings (MHQ- IT), GHQ, and SCL90. MHQ-IT was implemented in three versions of preliminary (with 122 items), trial (with 96 items), and final (with 90 items). Moreover, 33 items remained after the final analysis.
Regarding the results, three factors were extracted using exploratory factor analysis including faith in God (23 items), self-control (7 items), and submission (3 items), which explained 32.06%, 9.8%, and 7.05% of the variance in the whole test (49.5%), respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated the propriety of the model and data. In addition, there was a significant correlation between GHQ-IT, GHQ, and SCL90. On the other hand, the observed difference between the total score and its factors among healthy and non-healthy individuals indicated the differential validity of the questionnaire. The internal consistency of this questionnaire and its mentioned factors were 0.932, 0.942, 0.696, and 0.628, respectively and its test-retest reliability was 0.946.
This questionnaire was provided to investigate the mental health based on Islamic teachings and could measure people's mental health along with other diagnostic tools. This questionnaire could be used in consultation and research activities.