title: Validity, reliability and acceptability of the Japanese version of the General Well-Being Schedule (GWBS).
abstract: The General Well-Being Schedule (GWBS) is a widely used, self-administered questionnaire to measure subjective well-being. It contains 18 items and was originally hypothesized to have six domains; however, the following studies suggest other factorial models. We devised the schedule's Japanese edition following the standard procedure and tested its psychometric properties considering Japanese cultural characteristics. Subjects were 1224 middle-aged participants undergoing health checkups in Adachi, Tokyo. The reliability of the original version was high: alpha coefficient, 0.90; test-retest Pearson's correlation coefficient, 0.81; and intra-class correlation coefficient, 0.85. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the structural validity of the 6-factor, the following 3-factor and 4-factor models (goodness of fit index: 0.932, 0.946 and 0.937, respectively). A new 3-factor model developed after the exclusion of item 11, which had no correlation with the other variables, was proved to have a higher fitness index (0.958) than the other models. This 17-item version showed adequate reliability (alpha coefficient, 0.91; test-retest Pearson's correlation coefficient, 0.81; and intra-class correlation coefficient, 0.85) and concurrent validity compared with the General Health Questionnaire, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Self-rating Depression Scale and Profile Of Mood State (correlation coefficients: -0.75 to -0.53). The median time required to complete the schedule was five minutes. Completing this instrument was easy for 80% of the subjects. These findings attest to the adequacy of the 17-item Japanese GWBS for the comprehensive assessment of individual inner state.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, USA. tnakayam@info.ncc.go.jp
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Toyoda
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohno
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yoshiike
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Futagami
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results