The adaptation of the Continuum Beliefs of Mental Illness Scale (CB-MIS) to the Hungarian language and its psychometric characteristics

Background The continuum beliefs of mental health and illness are closely linked to a reduced stigma toward mental health difficulties. This study aimed to adapt the vignette-independent, 9-item Continuum Beliefs of Mental Illness Scale (CB-MIS) to the Hungarian language and to assess its associations with stigma, social distance and empathy. Methods In a community-based sample, 1065 Hungarian adults completed the CB-MIS (M age =37 years; 70.6% female). To assess structural validity, confirmatory factor analyses and reliability analyses were conducted, whilst correlational analyses were implemented to examine associations with stigma, social distance and empathy. Results Confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor solution of the CB-MIS with the State, Person and Concept factors. The scale showed very good factorial and discriminant validity. The overall scale demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (α = 0.710). Although the subscales demonstrated relatively low Cronbach’s alpha values (α = 0.542–0.812), the omega hierarchical score highlighted the importance of interpreting the subscale scores as well. The scale exhibited moderate negative associations with stigma and social distance, while its relationship with empathy was moderately positive. Conclusions Our study provides the first preliminary evidence for the factor structure of the Hungarian CB-MIS. Employing the 9-item vignette-independent CB-MIS to measure the continuum of mental health and illness in the future is recommended. Future studies could apply this measure to anti-stigma interventions. Clinical trial number Not applicable.