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Development and psychometric evaluation of the public health surveillance well-being scale

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Abstract

Purpose

To develop and psychometrically evaluate the brief Public Health Surveillance Well-Being Scale (PHS-WB) that captures mental, physical, and social components of well-being.

Methods

Using data from 5,399 HealthStyles survey respondents, we conducted bi-factor, item response theory, and differential item functioning analyses to examine the psychometric properties of a pool of 34 well-being items. Based on the statistical results and content considerations, we developed a brief 10-item well-being scale and assessed its construct validity through comparisons of demographic subgroups and correlations with measures of related constructs.

Results

Based on the bi-factor analyses, the items grouped into both an overall factor and individual domain-specific factors. The PHS-WB scale demonstrated good internal consistency (alpha = 0.87) and correlated highly with scores for the entire item pool (r = 0.94). The well-being scale scores differed as expected across demographic groups and correlated with global and domain-specific measures of similar constructs, supporting its construct validity.

Conclusion

The 10-item PHS-WB scale demonstrates good psychometric properties, and its high correlation with the item pool suggests minimal loss of information with the use of fewer items. The brief PHS-WB allows for well-being assessment on national surveys or in other situations where a longer form may not be feasible.

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Notes

  1. About 68% of a population sample will have T scores that range between 40 and 60, 1 standard deviation above and below the mean.

  2. SAS and SPSS programs for computing the scores are available by contacting the authors.

Abbreviations

HP2020:

Healthy People 2020

CDC:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

BRFSS:

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

WHO:

World Health Organization

PROMIS:

Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System

CFI:

Comparative Fit Index

TLI:

Tucker-Lewis Fit Index

SRMR:

Standardized Root Mean Square Residual

IRT:

Item response theory

DIF:

Differential item functioning

CART:

Classification and regression tree

SES:

Socioeconomic status

NHIS:

National Health Interview Survey

HRQOL:

Health-related quality of life

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Road, P.O. Box 12194, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709-2194, USA

    C. M. Bann & M. A. Lewis

  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

    R. Kobau, M. M. Zack, C. Luncheon & W. W. Thompson

Authors
  1. C. M. Bann
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  2. R. Kobau
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  3. M. A. Lewis
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  4. M. M. Zack
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  5. C. Luncheon
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  6. W. W. Thompson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. M. Bann.

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Bann, C.M., Kobau, R., Lewis, M.A. et al. Development and psychometric evaluation of the public health surveillance well-being scale. Qual Life Res 21, 1031–1043 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-011-0002-9

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