The 12-item well-being questionnaire. An evaluation of its validity and reliability in Dutch people with diabetes.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to investigate the validity and reliability of the short-form 12-Item Well-Being Questionnaire (W-BQ12). The 12 items were used to construct the three 4-item subscales Negative Well-Being (NWB), Energy (ENE), and Positive Well-Being (PWB), and the 12-item overall scale General Well-Being (GWB).


METHODS
A total of 1,472 patients with diabetes completed the W-BQ12, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. Statistics covered Cronbach's alpha, Pearson's correlation, t tests, and logistic regression. Test-retest reliability was studied in a sample of 202 patients who twice completed the W-BQ12, which was supplemented with the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale and the Short Form (SF)-36 Health Survey.


RESULTS
Of the tested subjects, 739 were defined as having type 1 diabetes and 701 as having type 2 diabetes. Cronbach's alpha proved to be high and stable across sex and type of diabetes for all W-BQ12 scales. Test-retest reliability ranged from 0.66 (PWB) to 0.83 (GWB), with a mean interval of 66 +/- 14 days. Convergent validity of the W-BQ12 scales was supported by high correlations with other measures of affect. Of all scales of the first measurement, ENE proved to have the strongest association with self-reported chronic fatigue. NWB and trait anxiety both had the strongest associations with self-reported depression and current treatment by a psychologist/psychiatrist.


CONCLUSIONS
The W-BQ12 appeared to be a reliable and valid measure of psychological well-being. This short instrument is easy to administer and may be considered a useful tool for both clinicians and researchers to assess the psychological well-being of patients with diabetes.
Pouwer
F
F
Department of Endocrinology, Academic Hospital Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. f.pouwer.psychol@med.vu.nl
van der Ploeg
H M
HM
Adèr
H J
HJ
Heine
R J
RJ
Snoek
F J
FJ
D000328:Adult; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000523:psychology*; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D001786:Blood Glucose