Development of an individual well-being scores assessment

• Published in: Psychology of well-being 2012-05, Vol.2 (1), p.2-2
• Main Authors: Evers, Kerry E, Prochaska, James O, Castle, Patricia H, Johnson, Janet L, Prochaska, Janice M, Harrison, Patricia L, Rula, Elizabeth Y, Coberley, Carter, Pope, James E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological Psychology; Health; Health Psychology; Neuropsychology; Positive Psychology; Psychological tests; Psychology; Quality of Life Research; Validation studies
• ISSN: 2211-1522; 2211-1522
• DOI: 10.1186/2211-1522-2-2

Background This study describes the development and validation of an individual-level well-being assessment and scoring method (IWBS) adapted from the population-based Gallup-Healthways Well-being Index across six domains (physical health, emotional health, healthy behaviors, work environment, basic access and overall life-evaluation). Methods Exploratory analyses were conducted on half the sample (n = 2036) using principal component analyses (PCA) with varimax rotation and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the second half of the sample (n = 2100) using structural equation modeling to validate the measurement model found by the PCA. Results Optimal results in the exploratory sample were achieved for a seven-factor solution, accounting for 52.0% of the variance. All domains displayed adequate reliability, ranging from .42 to .79. Conclusions The IWBS met each of the criteria that were established for measurement development. Findings indicated that there was initial support for using the IWBS to assess well-being at the individual level. The IWBS has acceptable psychometrics of reliability, internal and external validity.