Reliability and validity of the Spanish version of the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index in elderly.
OBJECTIVE
The World Health Organization (WHO)-Five Well-being Index (WHO-5) is a short 5-item index designed to assess the level of emotional well-being. The positive questions of the WHO-5, shifted towards measuring cheerfulness and the level of energy, work in the screening of depression. This paper describes the psychometric properties of the Spanish WHO-5 in older persons.


METHODS
A total of 199 participants from community centers and primary care centers participated in the study completing a battery of measures: WHO-5, Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF), depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale [GDS-15]), as well as health and sociodemographic information. Analysis was performed using standard psychometric methods.


RESULTS
Internal consistency reliability was good (Cronbach's α = 0.86). Exploratory factor analysis showed a one-factor solution which accounted for 66% of the total variance of WHO-5. Moderate-high correlations were found between WHO-5 and the WHOQOL-BREF and GDS-15 were confirmed, indicating good convergent validity. Discriminative validity was confirmed by the ability of the WHO-5 to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy and depressed and non-depressed participants (as measured by the GDS-15).


CONCLUSIONS
The WHO-5 showed acceptable psychometric properties in elderly persons. It might be a useful tool to assess emotional well-being and to detect depressive symptoms among older persons in primary care and community centers.
Department of Methodology and Behavioral Sciences, University of Barcelona & SGR 822 Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. lucas.ramona@gmail.com
Ramona
R
Lucas-Carrasco
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D003710:Demography; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004522:Educational Status; D004644:Emotions; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014944:World Health Organization