Multidimensional Health Locus of Control- Internal Scale (MHLC-I)

Description: A measure of an individual’s belief in his/her ability to control health outcomes [1].

Format: 18 items comprise the combined-form MHLC-I. Combining the two forms (A & B) increases the alpha reliability of the scale.  Form C is designed to be “condition-specific” and can be used in place of Form A/B when studying people with an existing health/medical condition.  Like Forms A/B, Form C also has 18 items, but, instead of a single 6 item powerful “others” subs-cale, Form C has two, independent 3 item subscales:  doctors, and other people [2].

Scoring: Respondents are asked to indicate the extent to which they agree with each statement using a 6-point Likert scale.

Administration and Burden: Self-administered.

Psychometrics for SCI: From non-SCI populations, cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging from .86 to .88 have been reported for the combined form MHLC-I [3]. Convergent and predictive validities have also been reported [1].  No psychometric data available for persons with SCI.

Languages: English.

QoL Concept: The MHLC-I is a measure of Subjective Well-Being (Self-Efficacy), which corresponds to Box E (subjective well-being; self-efficacy) of Dijker’s Model.

Permissions/Where to Obtain: Public Domain; All 3 forms and scoring instructions can be found at the MLHC Scales website at: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/nursing/kwallston/mhlcscales.htm

**CLICK ON THE LISTED SECONDARY HEALTH CONDITIONS ON THE RIGHT TO READ HOW THE MHLC-I HAS BEEN USED WITH A PARTICULAR CONDITION**

References:

1. Wallston KA, Wallston BS, DeVellis R. Development of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) Scales. Health Education Monographs 1978;6:160-70.
2. Wallston KA, Stein MJ, Smith KA.  Form C of the MHLC Scales: A condition-specific measure of locus of control. Journal of Personality Assessment 1994; 63: 534-53.
3. Cooper D, Fraboni M. Toward a more valid and reliable health locus of control scale. J Clin Psychol 1988;44:536-41.