Abstract

This study aimed to validate the Korean version of the Vancouver Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Mental Contamination Scale (VOCI-MC). Mental contamination is a psychological phenomenon of feeling dirty without physical contact with a contaminant. It is associated with various symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and influences the severity of symptoms and treatment outcomes. We developed a Korean version of VOCI-MC through a translation-back translation method and tested its reliability and validity with 550 Korean adults aged 16 or older. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed a single-factor structure, and confirmatory factor analysis validated the scale’s single-factor structure. The scale demonstrated good internal consistency, and convergent validity was supported by correlations between mental contamination and OCD symptoms. Additionally, discriminant validity was established by the differences in mental contamination levels between upper and lower groups of OCD symptoms. The implications of this study and directions for future studies were discussed.