Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Mental Health Disorders Screening Instrument for Athletes in a Turkish Sample

Abstract

Objectives Screening instruments suitable for the early detection of mental health issues in athletes are limited. The aim of this study is to adapt the Mental Health Disorders Screening Instrument for Athletes (MHDSIA) into Turkish and evaluate its psychometric properties.Methods The adaptation process followed COSMIN guidelines. Language adaptation was performed using a forward-backward translation method, and content validity was evaluated with expert opinions. This cross-sectional methodological study included 251 volunteer athletes. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analyses were employed for construct validity, and reliability was examined with the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Criterion validity was tested against the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (SCL-90-R), and sensitivity and specificity were evaluated via Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.Results The Turkish version of the MHDSIA demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha = 0.864) and satisfactory content validity (I-CVI = 0.857-1.000; S-CVI = 0.969). EFA supported a single-factor structure, which was confirmed by CFA, with adequate goodness-of-fit indices (e.g. RMSEA = 0.074). The ROC analysis showed an AUC of 0.774 (p < 0.001), with an optimal cutoff point identified as 32, yielding sensitivity of 78.4% and specificity of 67.5%.ConclusionThe Turkish version of the MHDSIA was determined to be a valid and reliable screening instrument, and it has been demonstrated that it can be used as an effective method for assessing the mental health of athletes.