The Romanian versions of the inventory of attitudes toward seeking mental health services (IASMHS) and the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS): Psychometric Properties

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Despite growing interest in mental health literacy, the Romanian literature still lacks psychometrically sound instruments that measure attitudes toward seeking professional help and self-compassion. The present study reports the cross-cultural adaptation and validation of two widely used scales – the Inventory of Attitudes toward Seeking Mental Health Services (IASMHS; Mackenzie et al., 2004) and the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003) – for the Romanian population. Following back-translation and expert review, a pilot item analysis (N = 100) indicated no items required removal. The main sample comprised 578 university students who completed the Romanian IASMHS, SCS, and additional convergent measures. Internal consistency was acceptable. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a four-factor solution with marginal fit for the SCS. For the IASMHS, exploratory analyses supported a five-factor model, which was inadmissible at confirmatory analysis, and the original three-factor model fit suboptimally; a theory-guided trimmed 17-item three-factor model produced improved fit. Convergent validity was supported: SCS total scores correlated negatively with psychological distress and weakly with self-stigma; the trimmed IASMHS total showed small, theorized associations – positive with self-compassion and negative with self-stigma and distress. The findings are limited by the use of self-report data and the high percentage of female participants. These findings indic,ate that the retained Romanian versions of the IASMHS and SCS showed adequate reliability and validity for research and clinical screening. The scales enable culturally sensitive assessment of help-seeking attitudes and self-compassion, thereby advancing mental health interventions in Romanian settings.