title: Holistic measurement of well-being: psychometric properties of the physical, mental and social well-being scale (PMSW-21) for adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A holistic approach to health requires the development of tools that would allow to measure the inner world of individuals within its physical, mental and social dimensions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To create the Physical, Mental and Social Well-being scale (PMSW-21) that allows a holistic representation of various dimensions of well-being in such a way as they are perceived by the individuals and how affected their health.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted on the sample of 406 inhabitants of Warsaw involving in the Social Participation in Health Reform project. The PMSW-21 scale included: headache, tiredness, abdominal pain, palpitation, joint pain, backache, sleep disturbance (physical domain), anxiety, guiltiness, helplessness, hopelessness, sadness, self-dissatisfaction, hostility (mental domain), security, communicability, protection, loneliness, rejection, sociability and appreciation (social domain). The five criterial variables of health and seven of life experiences were adopted to assess the discriminative power of the PMSW-21 scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total well-being scale as well as its physical, mental and social domains showed high reliability (Cronbach a 0.81, 0.77, 0.90, 0.72, respectively). The analysis confirmed the construct validity. All the items stronger correlated with their own domain than with the others (ranges for physical: 0.41 - 0.55, mental: 0.49 - 0.80 and social: 0.31 - 0.50). The total scale demonstrate high sensitivity; it significantly differentiated almost all criterial variables. Physical domain showed high sensitivity for health as well as for negative life events variables, while the mental and social domains were more sensitive for life events.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The analysis confirmed the usefulness of PMSW-21 scale for measure the holistic well-being. The reliability of the total scale and its domains, construct validity and sensitivity for health and life determinants were at acceptable level.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Postgraduate Education, National Institute of Public Health - National Institute of Hygiene, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Supranowicz
authors.forename: Małgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paź
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data