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Evaluating the responsiveness of the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS): Group and individual level analysis
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Mental well-being now features prominently in UK and international health policy. However, progress has been hampered by lack of valid measures that are responsive to change. The objective of this study was to evaluate the responsiveness of the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) at both the individual and group level. METHODS: Secondary analysis of twelve different interventional studies undertaken in different populations using WEMWBS as an outcome measure. Standardised response mean (SRM), probability of change statistic (P(^)) and standard error of measurement (SEM) were used to evaluate whether WEMWBS detected statistically important changes at the group and individual level, respectively. RESULTS: Mean change in WEMWBS score ranged from -0.6 to 10.6. SRM ranged from -0.10 (95% CI: -0.35, 0.15) to 1.35 (95% CI: 1.06, 1.64). In 9/12 studies the lower limit of the 95% CI for P(^) was greater than 0.5, denoting responsiveness. SEM ranged from 2.4 to 3.1 units, and at the threshold 2.77 SEM, WEMWBS detected important improvement in at least 12.8% to 45.7% of participants (lower limit of 95% CI>5.0%). CONCLUSIONS: WEMWBS is responsive to changes occurring in a wide range of mental health interventions undertaken in different populations. It offers a secure base for research and development in this rapidly evolving field. Further research using external criteria of change is warranted.
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“At an individual level, a change of three or more units is interpreted as representing ‘meaningful change’. 45”
From Feasibility of RESTORE: An online Acceptance and Commitment Therapy intervention to improve palliative care staff wellbeing. (2023) · cites this paper as [45]
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MethodSelf-citation
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Metadata
- Authors
- Maheswaran, H., Weich, S., Powell, J., & Stewart-Brown, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Warwick (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Maheswaran, Hendramoorthy
- Venue
- Health and Quality of Life Outcomes
- Published
- 2012
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 156
- ISSN
- 1477-7525 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3560098
- OpenAlex
- W2139610815
- Cited by
- 265
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 6
- FWCI
- 10.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Health and Quality of Life Outcomes (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
- Warwick Research Archive Portal (University of Warwick) (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- NHS Health Scotland
- University of Warwick
- University of Bath
- University of Edinburgh
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Keywords
- Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, responsiveness to change, psychological well-being, mental health interventions, standardized response mean, standard error of measurement, psychometric properties, outcome measurement
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Female, United Kingdom, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Personal Satisfaction, Psychometrics, Surveys and Questionnaires, Reproducibility of Results, Confidence Intervals, Young Adult
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