ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Older adults underutilize mental health services suggesting that significant barriers are operating. This study presents reliability and validity data for a revised version of the self-report Barriers to Mental Health Services Scale (BMHSS) designed to quantify 10 barriers to mental health service use, so that barriers can be examined collectively. METHODS: The Barriers to Mental Health Services Scale Revised (BMHSS-R) was revised to improve its reliability and validity, including adding items, eliminating poor items, and balancing the number of items across subscales. A sample of 100 older adults (M age = 72.1 years, SD = 17.8 years) completed the BMHSS-R, the Beliefs Toward Mental Illness Scale, and the Willingness to Seek Help Questionnaire. RESULTS: Internal consistency for the 10 subscales of the BMHSS-R ranged between .63 and .87, with 8 of the 10 values greater than .70. Correlational analyses indicated that many of the subscales overlap considerably but are still distinct. Convergent validity of the BMHSS-R subscales of help-seeking and stigma was partially supported, although correlations were modest. CONCLUSION: Revisions to the BMHSS resulted in improved reliability estimates for use as a measure of perceived barriers to mental health services. We recommend when using the BMHSS-R to combine results with other information (e.g., service utilization data) to characterize a profile of barriers. We discuss directions for future research and further refinement of the BMHSS-R.
