Hammer and colleagues (2026) synchronized the language of six measures (i.e., Mental Help Seeking Attitude Scale [MHSAS], Perceived Norm: Injunctive Scale [PN:IS], Perceived Norm: Descriptive Scale [PN:DS], Personal Agency: Autonomy Scale [PA:AS], and Personal Agency: Capacity Scale [PA:CS], Mental Help Seeking Intention Scale [MHSIS]) to a shared definition of mental health help-seeking behavior and provided evidence of reliability and validity for these six synchronized measures. This battery of measures – known as the Integrated Behavioral Model of Mental Health Help Seeking Questionnaire (IBM-HS-Q) – assesses central constructs of the Integrated Behavioral Model of Mental Health Help Seeking (IBM-HS), including the three mechanisms (attitude, perceived norm, personal agency) and intention.
These synchronized mechanism (i.e., MHSAS, PN:IS, PN:DS, PA:AS, PA:CS) and intention (i.e., MHSIS) measures generally demonstrated appropriate factor structure (e.g., single dimension per measure; β’s ≥ 0.572), internal consistency (α’s > 0.753), variability (i.e., absence of problematic skewness/kurtosis), convergent evidence of validity (Average Variance Extracted ≥ 0.556 and H index ≥ 0.820). The mechanism measures demonstrated criterion evidence of validity, correlating (r’s ≥ 0.303) at least moderately with intention and jointly accounted for substantial variance in intention (R2 = 72%). The intention measure demonstrated predictive evidence of validity by longitudinally predicting prospective help-seeking behavior (r = .215; OR = 2.225).
The IBM-HS-Q is a standardized reasoned action tradition questionnaire that can make assessment of mental health help-seeking constructs more accessible and consistent across health services studies.
Below is the citation for this paper, with links to the journal’s typeset version (accessible through your academic institution, if applicable) as well as a pre-typeset PDF version provided for free by Dr. Hammer. A link to the Supplemental Material Microsoft Word .docx file associated with the paper is also provided, which provides additional detail about the development process.
Hammer, J. H., Dueber, D. M., Toland, M. D., & Weng, W.* (2026). The Integrated Behavioral Model of Mental Health Help Seeking Questionnaire (IBM-HS-Q): Development and validity evidence. Current Psychology, 45, 553. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-026-09132-3 (PDF) (Link to Supplemental Material)
How do I obtain a copy of the IBM-HS-Q?
Before using the IBM-Hs-Q, we ask that you obtain permission by filling out the online Hammer Instrument Permission Form.
The IBM-HS-Q, including the six measures that compose it, are all free for use in nonprofit academic research by those who have (or are being supervised by a professor who has) an advanced professional degree in a mental health profession and relevant training in the use of assessment instruments. Those seeking permission to use the measures for other purposes (e.g., commercial, profit, clinical, republication) may be charged a fee. The authors retain the copyright for the instrument.
Please note that any modifications/adaptations to these measures may affect the reliability and/or validity of results. For this reason, modification of these measures should be done with caution, is the sole responsibility of the researcher, and must be clearly described in any published or printed materials mentioning the modified version of these measures.
Download the IBM-HS-Q: You may download a copy of the 2026 version using the following links:
Click here to download a copy of the IBM-HS-Q in .pdf format
Click here to download a copy of the IBM-HS-Q in .doc format
Sample SPSS and Mplus syntax is forthcoming.
You can view how the IBM-HS-Q looks to participants when properly implemented within a Qualtrics.com online survey. You can also download this .qsf file, which will let you import a copy of the of the MHSAS as a standalone survey into your Qualtrics.com researcher account. Here’s Qualtrics.com’s FAQ regarding importing and exporting files.
What language translations of the IBM-HS-Q exist?
Here is a list of translated versions from professionals who consented to having their translation made available for future public use, provided the user cites the published source that utilized the translated version.
- Coming soon.
May I translate the IBM-HS-Q into another language?
Yes, you may. If you develop a translated version and publish findings using the translated version, please consider providing me with a copy, so that I may share the translated version with others (see above section) who can cite you as the developer.
When translating the IBM-HS-Q, please follow published best practices for translating self-report instruments. A poor translation can lead to a translated instrument that fails to measure what it is supposed to measure. Here are some helpful resources on this topic:
- A review of guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation of questionnaires could not bring out a consensus (Epstein et al., 2015) – read this article first.
- Cross cultural adaptation & psychometric validation of research instruments: A methodological review (Arafat et al., 2016) – read this article second.
- Translation, adaptation and validation of instruments or scales for use in cross-cultural health care research: a clear and user-friendly guideline (Sousa & Rojjanasrirat, 2011)
- Cross cultural adaptation & psychometric validation of instruments: Step-wise (Yasir, 2016)
- Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of psychological instruments: Some considerations (Borsa et al., 2012)
- Cross-cultural adaptation of research instruments: language, setting, time and statistical considerations (Gjersing et al., 2010)
- Operationalizing the cross-cultural adaptation of epidemiological measurement instruments (Reichenheim & Moraes, 2007)
- Guidelines for the process of cross-cultural adaptation of self-report measures (Beaton et a., 2000)
- Cross-cultural adaptation of health-related quality of life measures: literature review and proposed guidelines (Guillemin et al., 1993)