Calibrating well-being, quality of life and common mental disorder items: psychometric epidemiology in public mental health research.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The assessment of 'general health and well-being' in public mental health research stimulates debates around relative merits of questionnaire instruments and their items. Little evidence regarding alignment or differential advantages of instruments or items has appeared to date.

Aims

Population-based psychometric study of items employed in public mental health narratives.

Method

Multidimensional item response theory was applied to General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) and EQ-5D items (Health Survey for England, 2010-2012; n = 19 290).

Results

A bifactor model provided the best account of the data and showed that the GHQ-12 and WEMWBS items assess mainly the same construct. Only one item of the EQ-5D

SUBMITTER: Bohnke JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4967770 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature