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The Spanish version of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS) is valid for use in the general population

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Abstract

Purpose

Mental well-being has aroused interest in Europe as an indicator of population health. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS) was developed in the United Kingdom showing good face validity and has been previously adapted into Spanish. The aim of this study is to assess the validity and reliability of the Spanish version of WEMWBS in the general population.

Methods

Cross-sectional home face-to-face interview survey with computer-assisted personal interviewing was administered with the 2011 Catalan Health Interview Survey Wave 3, which is representative of the non-institutionalized general population of Catalonia, Spain. A total of 1,900 participants 15+ years of age were interviewed. The Spanish version of WEMWBS was administered together with socioeconomic and health-related variables, with a hypothesized level of association.

Results

Similar to the original, confirmatory factor analysis fits a one-factor model adequately (CFI = 0.974; TLI = 0.970; RMSEA = 0.059; χ 2 = 584.82; df = 77; p < .001) and has a high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.930; Guttman’s lambda 2 = 0.932). The WEMWBS discriminated between population groups in all health-related and socioeconomic variables, except in gender (p = 0.119), with a magnitude similar to that hypothesized. Overall, mental well-being was higher for the general population of Catalonia (average and whole distribution) than that for Scotland general population.

Conclusions

The Spanish version of WEMWBS showed good psychometric properties similar to the UK original scale. Whether better mental well-being in Catalonia is due to methodological or substantive cultural, social, or environmental factors should be further researched.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CD12/00440). Additional support included a grant from DIUE of Generalitat de Catalunya (2009 SGR 1095), and the support of Agència de Salut Pública de Catalunya, Subdirecció General de Drogodependències, Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain. The authors are indebted to Núria Duran Adroher and Oriol Cunillera for assistance in the management of databases. We also thank Carme Gasull and Roser Busquets for her assistance in the manuscript preparation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Services Research Unit, IMIM–Institut Hospital del Mar d’Investigacions Mèdiques, Carrer del Doctor Aiguader, 88, Edifici PRBB, 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Pere Castellví, Carlos G. Forero, Gemma Vilagut, Montse Ferrer & Jordi Alonso

  2. CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain

    Pere Castellví, Carlos G. Forero, Gemma Vilagut, Montse Ferrer & Jordi Alonso

  3. Agència de Salut Pública de Catalunya, Subdirecció General de Drogodependències, Carrer Roc Boronat 81-95, 08005, Barcelona, Spain

    Miquel Codony, Pilar Brugulat, Antonia Medina, Anna Mompart, Joan Colom & Ricard Tresserras

  4. Salud Mental Extrahospitalaria de Gipuzkoa (Osakidetza), Sancho el Sabio 35, 20010, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain

    Andrea Gabilondo

  5. Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), 08193, Barcelona, Spain

    Montse Ferrer

  6. Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK

    Sarah Stewart-Brown

  7. Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Plaça de la Mercè, 10-12., 08002, Barcelona, Spain

    Jordi Alonso

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  1. Pere Castellví
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  2. Carlos G. Forero
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  3. Miquel Codony
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  7. Andrea Gabilondo
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  8. Anna Mompart
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  9. Joan Colom
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  11. Montse Ferrer
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  12. Sarah Stewart-Brown
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  13. Jordi Alonso
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jordi Alonso.

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Castellví, P., Forero, C.G., Codony, M. et al. The Spanish version of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS) is valid for use in the general population. Qual Life Res 23, 857–868 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-013-0513-7

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