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The Assessment of Wellbeing and Mental Health: A Global Public Health Issue

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Mental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 February 2023) | Viewed by 12323

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Carlo Chiorri

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Guest Editor

Department of Educational Sciences, University of Genova, Corso A. Podestà, 2, 16128 Genova, Italy
Interests: psychometrics; psychological assessment; research methods; statistical modeling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The availability of psychometrically sound psychological tests, scales, questionnaires, and inventories is of crucial importance to ensure the validity of research findings. If psychological characteristics or constructs are not measured adequately within studies, the results and their implications can be biased, flawed, or even incorrect. Hence, this Special Issue calls for papers that present tools for the assessment of psychological constructs of interest in the interdisciplinary area of environmental health sciences and public health for which convincing evidence of validity and reliability can be provided. As the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health covers several scientific disciplines, there are no strict constraints on the constructs measured by the assessment tool, provided that it is consistent with the aims and scopes of the journal (see https://0-www-mdpi-com.brum.beds.ac.uk/journal/ijerph/about). In order to ensure high-quality contributions, submitted papers should include the following:

A clear definition of the construct measured;
A concise review and critical analysis of the assessment tools already available for the measurement of the construct, with a convincing rationale for the need of a new one, or for the revision of the existing one;
A rationale for the assessment of the criterion and/or construct validity of the tool;
Samples that match the target population. While having representative samples is not a strict requirement, studies that use, e.g., data from undergraduate psychology students for testing the psychometric properties of a measure intended for a wider and/or a different population might not be accepted;
Use of principled statistical methods (e.g., exploratory and/or confirmatory factor analysis and IRT models, but not Principal Components Analysis) for the assessment of the measurement model for the items of the tool must be used;
Empirical evidence of reliability and validity;
Association of test/questionnaire scores with relevant background characteristics;
The full version of the tool must be provided.

Dr. Carlo Chiorri
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

test development
psychometrics
validity
reliability
assessment
scale
questionnaire
inventory

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 4718 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development and Validation of a New Measure of Work Annoyance Using a Psychometric Network Approach

by Nicola Magnavita and Carlo Chiorri

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(15), 9376; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph19159376 - 30 Jul 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1451

Abstract

Existing measures of the impact of job characteristics on workers’ well-being do not directly assess the extent to which such characteristics (e.g., opportunity to learn new skills) are perceived as positive or negative. We developed a measure, the Work Annoyance Scale (WAS), of the level of annoyance that workers feel about certain aspects of the job and evaluated its psychometric properties. Using archival data from two cohorts (n = 2226 and 655) of workers that had undergone an annual medical examination for occupational hazard, we show the usefulness of the network psychometric approach to scale validation and its similarities and differences from a traditional factor analytic approach. The results revealed a two-dimensional structure (working conditions and cognitive demands) that was replicable across cohorts and bootstrapped samples. The two dimensions had adequate structural consistency and discriminant validity with respect to other questionnaires commonly used in organizational assessment, and showed a consistent pattern of association with relevant background variables. Despite the need for more extensive tests of its content and construct validity in light of the organizational changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic and of an evaluation of the generalizability of the results to cultural contexts different from the Italian one, the WAS appears as a psychometrically sound tool for assessment and research in organizational contexts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Assessment of Wellbeing and Mental Health: A Global Public Health Issue)

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14 pages, 393 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Psychometric Properties of the Short-Form Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-SF) and Its Associated Factors among the Elderly in Bangladesh

by Naznin Sultana, Thao T. P. Nguyen, Ahmed Hossain, Md. Asaduzzaman, Minh H. Nguyen, Ishrat Jahan, Kien T. Nguyen and Tuyen Van Duong

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(13), 7935; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph19137935 - 28 Jun 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2048

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to (1) evaluate the psychometric properties of a Comprehensive Short-Form Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-SF) and (2) examine the associated factors of GDS-SF among the elderly. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2019 to April 2020 in Dhaka City Corporation, Bangladesh. Data of 377 elderly were collected, including socio-demographic characteristics, social supports, comorbidities, sleep behaviours, and depression (as measured by the GDS-SF). We used the principal component analysis, correlation analysis, and logistic regression analysis to validate GDS-SF, and explore its associations. Results: The GDS-SF was reliable and homogeneous with Cronbach’s alpha = 0.836, and McDonald’s Omega = 0.841, with no floor/ceiling effects. The questionnaire demonstrated a good construct validity with item-scale convergent validity and KMO measure of sampling adequacy (0.869 for the total sample, 0.838 for the community subsample, and 0.851 for the slum subsample). In the multivariate model, older people had a higher likelihood of moderate and severe depression (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.00, 1.12; p = 0.048). The likelihood of having moderate and severe depression was lower in men (OR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.28, 0.85; p = 0.011) and those satisfied with their children’s support (OR, 0.17; 95% CI, 0.08, 0.35; p < 0.001), compared with their counterparts, respectively. Conclusions: The GDS-SF is a reliable and valid survey tool for evaluating depression in Bangladeshi older adults. Age, gender, and satisfaction with children’s support were predictors of depression. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Assessment of Wellbeing and Mental Health: A Global Public Health Issue)

16 pages, 1905 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Robust Italian Validation of the Coping Humor Scale (RI-CHS) for Adult Health Care Workers

by Roberto Burro, Alessandra Fermani, Ramona Bongelli, Ilaria Riccioni, Morena Muzi, Alessia Bertolazzi and Carla Canestrari

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(5), 2522; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph19052522 - 22 Feb 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2215

Abstract

The Coping Humor Scale (CHS) is a seven-item tool widely used to assess the use of humor in coping with stressful situations. The beneficial effect of humor in buffering the impact of negative experiences has been investigated in several contexts and populations; for this reason, the CHS has been used in many languages, but its solid validation in Italian is still missing. Our study aimed at building a robust instrument to measure coping humor strategies among Italian health care workers, a category which has been particularly exposed to stressful situations in the last two years. The CHS translated into Italian was administered to a sample of 735 health care workers during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch analysis were performed. As a result, a six-item Robust Italian Coping Humor Scale (RI-CHS) was validated and ready to use for future studies on Italian health care workers’ samples. This study gives evidence that our six-item solution works as a ruler (i.e., an instrument that meets the conditions of fundamental measurement in the context of the human sciences) to measure the degree to which Italian health care workers rely on humor to cope with stress. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Assessment of Wellbeing and Mental Health: A Global Public Health Issue)

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25 pages, 5671 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT): Validity Evidence from Brazil and Portugal

by Jorge Sinval, Ana Claudia S. Vazquez, Claudio Simon Hutz, Wilmar B. Schaufeli and Sílvia Silva

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(3), 1344; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph19031344 - 25 Jan 2022

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5209

Abstract

The Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) has been gaining increased attention as a sound and innovative instrument in its conceptualization of burnout. BAT has been adapted for several countries, revealing promising validity evidence. This paper aims to present the psychometric properties of the Brazilian and Portuguese versions of the BAT in both the 23-item and 12-item versions. BAT’s validity evidence based on the internal structure (dimensionality, reliability, and measurement invariance) and validity evidence based on the relations to other variables are the focus of research. A cross-sectional study was conducted with two non-probabilistic convenience samples from two countries (N = 3103) one from Brazil (n_Brazil = 2217) and one from Portugal (n_Portugal = 886). BAT’s original structure was confirmed, and it achieved measurement invariance across countries. Using both classic test theory and item response theory as frameworks, the BAT presented good validity evidence based on the internal structure. Furthermore, the BAT showed good convergent evidence (i.e., work engagement, co-worker support, role clarity, work overload, and negative change). In conclusion, the psychometric properties of the BAT make this freely available instrument a promising way to measure and compare burnout levels of Portuguese and Brazilian workers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Assessment of Wellbeing and Mental Health: A Global Public Health Issue)

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