How to Measure Well-being?

The Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMWBS) is a condensed version of WEMWBS, assessing emotional well-being and psychological functioning. Designed for individuals aged 13–74, it serves as an effective tool to evaluate well-being before and after interventions, making it useful for measuring changes over time.

The Satisfaction with Life Scale is a five-item tool assessing overall life satisfaction through cognitive judgment. It does not measure emotions like positive or negative affect. Respondents rate their agreement with each statement on a seven-point scale, from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).

The Office for National Statistics Subjective Well-Being Scale measures four aspects of well-being: life satisfaction, happiness, anxiety, and sense of worth. It uses a 10-point scale, where 0 represents the lowest level (e.g., extremely dissatisfied or not at all anxious) and 10 represents the highest (e.g., extremely satisfied or extremely anxious). Participants rate their well-being based on these criteria.

The DeJong Gierveld Loneliness Scale is a 6-item measure assessing two types of loneliness:

Emotional loneliness (EL) – Missing a close, intimate relationship.
Social loneliness (SL) – Lacking a broader social network.
It includes three statements for each type, helping evaluate both aspects of loneliness effectively.

The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is a widely recognized tool for assessing an individual’s perception of stress. It evaluates the extent to which people view their daily experiences as stressful. The scale measures feelings of unpredictability, lack of control, and being overwhelmed. Additionally, it includes direct questions about current stress levels. Participants respond based on their emotions and thoughts over the past month, indicating how frequently they experienced certain feelings.

Child Outcomes Research Consortium. (n.d.). Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). Www.corc.uk.net. https://www.corc.uk.net/outcome-experience-measures/perceived-stress-scale-pss-10/

The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) is a brief self-evaluation tool designed to measure your likelihood of falling asleep during the day. This assessment consists of eight questions, each addressing typical situations where drowsiness might lead to dozing off. Respondents rate their chances of dozing on a four-point scale, ranging from 0 (no chance of dozing) to 3 (high likelihood of dozing off) for each scenario.

Epworth Sleepiness Scale. (n.d.). https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/work-hour-training-for-nurses/longhours/mod2/epworth-P.pdf

To measure whether individuals attribute their well-being to internal factors (personal effort, self-management) or external factors (luck, fate, other people’s actions).

Dusanee Kesavayuth, Tran, D. B., & Zikos, V. (2022). Locus of control and subjective well-being: Panel evidence from Australia. PLoS ONE, 17(8), e0272714–e0272714. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272714

The Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) is a self-reported instrument designed to assess an individual’s ability to recover from stress and adversity, often referred to as “bouncing back.”

Smith, B. W., Dalen, J., Wiggins, K., Tooley, E., Christopher, P., & Bernard, J. (2008). The brief resilience scale: Assessing the ability to bounce back. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 15(3), 194–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705500802222972

SMAART Well-being

Well-being is defined as a positive state encountered by an individual comprising quality of life and abilities to contribute to development. It is a valuable resource influenced by societal dynamics, economic factors and environmental conditions