The Text-Picture Integration Scale for Perspectives on Mental Illness

Importance: Understanding the root cause of mental illness stigma is necessary to adopt effective management strategies. Objective: To establish a stable and effective text-picture integration rating scale to predict public perspectives on mental illness and to examine its reliability and validity. Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study using internet survey data. Setting: Online. Participants: Two hundred volunteers. Results: The 10-item the Text-Picture Integration Scale for Perspectives on Mental Illness was developed. The authors conducted data analysis using SPSS to evaluate the reliability and criterion-related validity of the Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS). The Text-Picture Integration Scale's item-level content validity index ranged from 0.83 to 1.00, and the scale-level content validity index was 0.97. The scale demonstrated acceptable reliability (Cronbach's α = .80). The mean value of individual items ranged from 3.18 to 4.48, and the mean total score was 39.44 (SD = 8.47). The Text-Picture Integration Scale exhibited satisfactory criterion-related validity with the MHLS (r = .76, p < .001). Conclusions and Relevance: Preliminary analyses support that the Text-Picture Integration Scale is a stable and effective rating scale to determine public perspectives on mental illness and is appropriate for evaluating destigmatization efforts.