Validation of the Mental Health Continuum‐Short Form and the dual continua model of well‐being and psychopathology in an adult mental health setting

Abstract

ObjectiveThe growing evidence for the dual continua model of psychopathology and well‐being has important implications for measuring outcomes in mental health care. The aim of the current study is to validate a measure of well‐being as well as the dual continua model in adults with mood, anxiety, personality, and developmental disorders.Methods472 adult psychiatric outpatients filled out the Mental Health Continuum‐Short Form (MHC‐SF) and the Outcome Questionnaire before start of treatment.ResultsConfirmatory factor analyses (CFA) confirmed the three‐factor structure of emotional, psychological, and social well‐being of the MHC‐SF. The dual continua model had the best fit in the complete sample and the different diagnostic groups.ConclusionThe MHC‐SF is a reliable and valid instrument to measure well‐being in the psychiatric population. Although relatively high correlations between psychopathology and well‐being exist, the results underline the importance to measure well‐being in addition to psychopathology in mental health care.

Well‐being in Patients with Affective Disorders Compared to Nonclinical Participants: A Multi‐Model Evaluation of the Mental Health Continuum‐Short Form

“…Across samples, the distinctness of EWB lied amidst SWB and PWB as it had intermediate ECVs in bifactor models and EWB items loadings were halved by the introduction of the general factor. Interestingly, as previously noted, all three factors were weaker and even less distinct (i.e., with lower ECVs) in the clinical sample due to strong interactions among mood disturbance and individual and social functioning, in line with similar recent findings from two clinical samples (Franken et al, ; van Erp Taalman Kip & Hutschemaekers, ). Therefore, a general well‐being factor appears to be sufficient to capture individual variation in well‐being in patients with affective disorders.…”

“…However, not surprisingly, SWB had the lowest internal consistency and composite reliability of the three subscales across samples, in line with most nonclinical (e.g. Hides et al, ; Keyes et al, ; Petrillo et al, ; Rogoza et al, ) and recent clinical findings (Franken et al, ; van Erp Taalman Kip & Hutschemaekers, ) and probably due to the aforementioned heterogeneity of the SWB subscale.…”

“…Such an extension is warranted should clinicians use the MHC‐SF for monitoring mental well‐being in parallel to diagnosing mental illness (Schotanus‐Dijkstra et al, ). Hence, the present study complements the recently emerging literature on MHC‐SF validation in clinical settings (Franken et al, ; van Erp Taalman Kip & Hutschemaekers, ).…”

“…In the few clinical studies to date, including the present one, all subscale means were lower than those reported in nonclinical samples. Again, SWB uniformly scored the lowest among MHC-SF subscales; the highest scores were recorded on EWB (Franken et al, 2018;van Erp Taalman Kip & Hutschemaekers, 2018), whereas in our clinical sample PWB had the highest score, though differences between these two subscales means were small. Therefore, the interplay between clinical and sociocultural factors, possibly affecting how people attribute a personal meaning to wellbeing, may shed light to these findings, a challenging avenue for further research.…”

Well‐Being Therapy as Rehabilitation Therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…TAU = treatment as usual; WBT = well-being therapy; T0 = Time 0 (baseline); T1 = Time 1 (T2; 3-month follow-up); T2 = Time 2 (6-month follow-up); T3 = Time 3 (12-month follow-up). a Norm scores for well-being: Healthy sample: M = 3.98 (SD = 0.85; Lamers et al, 2011); sample with pathology: M = 1.90 (SD = 1.00; Franken, Lamers, Ten Klooster, Bohlmeijer, Westerhof, 2018). No mean norm scores for other assessments were available.…”