Help-seeking intention is one of the most frequently studied help-seeking perception constructs and has one of the richest measurement traditions of all help-seeking constructs. When studying the behavior of seeking help from a mental health professional, “intention” is shorthand for “intention to seek help from a mental health professional.”
The Intentions to Seek Counseling Inventory (ISCI; Cash, Begley, McCown, & Weise, 1975) first appeared in the literature as a measure of counselors’ perceived helpfulness related to 15 personal problems (e.g., depression, insomnia) but was later adapted into a 17-item intention measure that asked respondents to rate how likely they would be to seek counseling if they were experiencing each of the 17 problems (e.g., Kelly & Achter, 1995). However, concerns with the dimensionality, internal consistency (a type of reliability), predictive evidence of validity have been raised about the ISCI (Hammer & Spiker, 2018). Seeking to address limitations of existing intention measures, Wilson, Deane, Ciarrochi, and Rickwood (2005) developed the General Help-Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ), which asked respondents to rate the likelihood that they would seek help for two different problem types (i.e., suicidal thoughts, personal-emotional problems) from 10 different help sources (e.g., friend, family). However, concerns with the dimensionality, internal consistency, and predictive evidence of validity have been raised about the GHSQ (Hammer & Spiker, 2018).
Hammer and Spiker (2018) provided psychometric evidence (e.g., reliability, validity) for the 3-item Mental Help Seeking Intention Scale (MHSIS). The MHSIS has been used in 30+ empirical studies. The MHSIS is a unidimensional instrument that produces an internally consistent total score with construct replicability and predictive evidence of validity. The MHSIS measures intention in a manner consistent with the definition of intention specified by the reasoned action tradition, including the Theory of Reasoned Action, Theory of Planned Behavior, and Integrated Behavioral Model of Mental Health Help Seeking (IBM-HS).