The Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS) - A psychometric evaluation of adolescents in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic
Amir H. Pakpour,
Marit Eriksson,
Ida Erixon,
Anders Broström,
Staffan Bengtsson,
Malin Jakobsson,
Karina Huus
Affiliations
Amir H. Pakpour
Department of Nursing, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden; Corresponding author. Amir Pakpour, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Gjuterigatan 5, 553 18 Jönköping, Sweden.
Marit Eriksson
Futurum - the Academy for Health and Care, Region Jönköping County, Sweden; Department of Public Health and Health Care, Region Jönköping County, Sweden
Ida Erixon
Department of Public Health and Health Care, Region Jönköping County, Sweden
Anders Broström
Department of Nursing, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden; Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Linköping University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden; Department of Health and Caring Sciences, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Vestlandet, Norway
Staffan Bengtsson
CHILD-research Group, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Sweden; Department of Social Work, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden
Malin Jakobsson
Department of Nursing, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden; CHILD-research Group, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Sweden
Karina Huus
Department of Nursing, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden; CHILD-research Group, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Sweden
The Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS) is effective in assessing positive aspects of mental health. Despite its advantages, little is known about group differences in the interpretation of SWEMWBS items across age groups, especially during the adolescence period. Hence, this study examined the psychometric properties of the SWEMWBS through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Rasch analysis and network analysis of Swedish adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 5548 participants from the south of Sweden (i.e., Jönköping County) took part in this cross-sectional study through an online platform between September 2020 and October 2020. The CFA, Rasch (including differential item functioning, DIF) analysis and network analysis were used to examine the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the SWEMWBS. The SWEMWBS had a unidimensional structure with robust psychometric properties. The CFA demonstrated measurement invariance across gender, school year and country of birth, which was also confirmed by Rasch DIF. Furthermore, considerable associations between the items of the SWEMWBS, general health and COVID-19 impact items were observed in network analysis. The SWEMWBS showed robust psychometric properties capable of assessing positive aspects of mental health and well-being among adolescents.
