Translation and validation of the family-focused mental health practice questionnaire-japanese version

Children of parents with mental illness are more likely to experience mental health concerns, compared to other children in the community. Thus, it is important mental health professionals identify and intervene appropriately in these families. To develop professional development activities, practice guidelines and organizational supports, it is important to first identify those practices that professionals employ and do not employ. Accordingly, a Japanese version of the Family-Focused Mental Health Practice Questionnaire was developed. In the first instance, the Questionnaire was translated into Japanese and disseminated to mental health workers in various Japanese settings. Based on 212 participants’ data, exploratory factor analysis was conducted to examine the structure of the Family-Focused Mental Health Practice Questionnaire Japanese version. Questionnaire results from professionals with and without previous family-focused/child-focused practice training was also compared. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO = 0.85) index and Bartlett’s test (p < 0.001) showed acceptable results. After Promax rotation, 13 factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 remained. Furthermore, the scree plot suggested a 13-factor solution as the best fit for the data. The factors accounted for 66.7% of the variance and most of the factor loadings were higher than 0.30, and most of the variables were uniquely loaded in one factor. Thus, thirteen subscales emerged from exploratory factor analysis. Comparing scores of each 13-subscale between two groups, there were significant differences on four (family-focused practice) and eight (child-focused practice) subscales. The Family-Focused Mental Health Practice Questionnaire Japanese version has good to acceptable construct validity. Further longitudinal design studies are required to explore the utility of the Family-Focused Mental Health Practice Questionnaire Japanese version in clinical settings.