Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): Validated for teenage school students in England and Scotland. A mixed methods assessment

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Stephen Platt¹  Yaser Adi²  Pamela Flynn³  Tim Friede⁴  Rebecca Putz⁵  Steven Martin⁵  Aileen Clarke⁵  Sarah Stewart-Brown⁵  Jacquie Ashdown⁶  Jane Parkinson⁷  Amy Blake⁸ 

[1] Centre for Population Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, EH8 9AG, Edinburgh, UK;College of Medicine, King Saud University; Shaikh Abdullah Bahamdan Research Chair for Evidence-Based Health Care and Knowledge Translation, P.O.Box 2925, 11461, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;Department of Sports Studies, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, Stirling, UK;Dept. of Medical Statistics, University Medical Center, Göttingen, 37073, Göttingen, Germany;Health Sciences Research Institute, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, CV4 7AL, Coventry, UK;NHS Birmingham East and North, 4th Floor, Waterlinks House Richard Street, B7 4AA, Aston, Birmingham, UK;NHS Health Scotland, Elphinstone House, 65 West Regent Street, G2 2AF, Glasgow, UK;The Caludon Centre, Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust, Clifford Bridge Road, CV2 2TE, Coventry, UK;

关键词: Mental Wellbeing;    Family Affluence Scale;    Total Difficulty Score;    GHQ12 Score;    WEMWBS Score;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-11-487

 received in 2010-07-23, accepted in 2011-06-21,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundUnderstanding and measuring mental health and wellbeing amongst teenagers has recently become a priority. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) is validated for measuring mental wellbeing in populations aged 16 years and over in the UK. We report here a study designed to establish the validity and reliability of WEMWBS in teenagers in the UK.MethodsWEMWBS and comparator scales, together with socio-demographic information and self-reported health, were incorporated into a self-administered questionnaire given to pupils aged 13 to 16 years in six schools in Scotland and England. Psychometric properties including internal consistency, correlations with comparator scales, test-retest stability and unidimensionality were investigated for WEMWBS. Twelve focus groups were undertaken to assess acceptability and comprehensibility of WEMWBS and were taped, transcribed and analysed thematically.ResultsA total of 1,650 teenagers completed the questionnaire (response rate 80.8%). Mean WEMWBS score was 48.8 (SD 6.8; median 49). Response scores covered the full range (from 14 to 70). WEMWBS demonstrated strong internal consistency and a high Cronbach's alpha of 0.87 (95% CI (0.85-0.88), n = 1517). Measures of construct validity gave values as predicted. The correlation coefficient for WEMWBS total score and psychological wellbeing domain of the Kidscreen-27 was 0.59 (95% CI [0.55; 0.62]); for the Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF) was 0.65, 95% CI [0.62; 0.69]; and for the WHO (WHO-5) Well-being Index 0.57 (95% CI [0.53; 0.61]). The correlation coefficient for the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was -0.44 (95% CI [-0.49; -0.40]) and for the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12) -0.45 (95% CI [-0.49; -0.40]). Test-retest reliability was acceptable (Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) 0.66 (95% CI [0.59; 0.72] n = 212)). Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated one underlying factor.WEMWBS was significantly associated with the Family Affluence Score (WEMWBS increased with increasing household socio-economic status) and had a positive association with the physical health dimension of the Kidscreen-27, but was unrelated to age, gender or location/school. Eighty students took part in focus groups. In general, although some students considered some items open to misunderstanding or misinterpretation, WEMWBS was received positively and was considered comprehensible, and acceptable.ConclusionsWEMWBS is a psychometrically strong population measure of mental wellbeing, and can be used for this purpose in teenagers aged 13 and over.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Clarke et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011