The Spanish version of the Warwick-Edinburgh mental well-being scale (WEMWBS) is valid for use in the general population

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.