The aim of the study was to develop the City Worker Mental Health Scale (CWMHS) and to
investigate the psychometric properties of the instrument. This instrument was developed as a self-reported
assessment tool. The development was based on a mixture of theoretical and empirical approaches. The
psychometric properties of the instrument were investigated with an experimental sample of more than 1000
white-collar workers for its construct validity and factorial structure. A test sample of 1264 participants was also
used to test for its internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The convergent validity of the CWMHS was
examined using a separate sample of 86 subjects with SCL-90 as the standard. Results on Confirmatory Factor
Analysis suggested that a model of a 8-factor structure fitted well with the data. Further analyses indicated that a
5 sub-scale structure was nested in two factors. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for these factors, ranging from
0.703 to 0.893, also suggested satisfactory internal consistency. Test-retest reliability was also examined yielding
high Intraclass correlations ranging from 0.505 to 0.784. Correlations between CWMHS and the SCL-90
provided evidence for satisfactory convergent validity to the instrument. The CWMHS has been demonstrated as
a valid instrument suitable for assessing the mental health status of white-collar workers from an Asian
background.
