TITLE:
Developing and Establishing the Psychometric Properties of an Ethos towards Wellness Questionnaire (EtWeQ)
AUTHORS:
Bengt Fridlund, Amir Baigi
KEYWORDS:
Ethos, Healthy Factors, Holistic, Psychometrics, Wellness
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.4 No.7,
June
20,
2014
ABSTRACT: Aim:
Validated instruments exist measuring parts of personal health, ill-health and
lifestyle, but there are few, if any, instruments “grasping the big picture” of
wellness and ethos. Accordingly the aim was to develop and establish the
psychometric properties of a 74-item Ethos towards Wellness Questionnaire (EtWeQ) with regards to content and
construct validity, as well as homogeneity and stability reliability. Methods: A questionnaire based on a
methodological and developmental design was sent out twice with a four week gap
between, on 221 healthy middle-aged participants in four steps: item
generating, content validating, statistical analyzing and establishing the
final questionnaire. Results: The
substantial base, consisting of content validity resulted in, besides basic
characteristics, six well-defined and sufficient indexes comprising of; two
health indexes (healthiness and ill-healthiness), three life context indexes
(work, family, spare time), and one brief comprehensive index (ethos). The
three life context as well as the ethos indexes at an ordinal scale level,
identified overall satisfactory communalities of >0.30, factor loadings >
0.30, and factor total variance > 50% with regard to construct validity. The
homogeneity reliability, in terms of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient > 0.70, at
both occasions with a four week gap between, as well as the stability
reliability in terms of intraclass correlation coefficient > 0.70, were also
considered satisfactory in the same indexes. Conclusions: This newly developed, and likely the only questionnaire
focusing on “grasping the big human picture”, was based on both a philosophical
reasoning and empirical recommendations of wellness, is shown to be a valid and
reliable measurement in screening or in follow-up of healthy people’s wellness
and ethos.