Associations Among Psychological Well-Being and Other Health Status Constructs

by John E. Ware, Allyson Ross Davies, Robert H. Brook, Shawn A. Johnston

Download

Download eBook for Free

FormatFile SizeNotes
PDF file 1.2 MB

Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 10 or higher for the best experience.

Purchase

Purchase Print Copy

 FormatList Price Price
Add to Cart Paperback38 pages $20.00 $16.00 20% Web Discount

Six scales were constructed from a 22-item adaptation of Dupuy's General Well-Being (GWB) questionnaire: Anxiety, Depression, Self-Control, Positive Well-Being, General Health, and Vitality. Reliability and validity were studied for 1209 enrollees (ages 14 to 75) in the Dayton, Ohio, site of the Health Insurance Study (HIS). Associations among the six HIS-GWB scales and 22 other health status and health-related variables (e.g., chronic functional limitations, chronic diseases, physical abilities, general health perceptions, work adjustment, life stress, health habits, patient satisfaction) were factor analyzed to test construct validity in relation to physical, mental and social components of health. Findings strongly support the validity of HIS-GWB Anxiety, Depression, Self-Control and Positive Well-Being scales as measures of mental health. General Health and Vitality scales failed discriminant tests of validity. Revisions made prior to fielding the HIS-GWB in other HIS sites are described.

This report is part of the RAND Corporation Paper series. The paper was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1948 to 2003 that captured speeches, memorials, and derivative research, usually prepared on authors' own time and meant to be the scholarly or scientific contribution of individual authors to their professional fields. Papers were less formal than reports and did not require rigorous peer review.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.