A psychometric evaluation of the Icelandic version of the WHO-5.

Abstract

The psychometric properties of the Icelandic version of the World Health Organization five wellbeing index (WHO-5) were evaluated using two samples, a randomly selected sample (N = 3,896) from the Icelandic National Registry and a convenience sample of primary care patients (N = 126). The factor structure of the scale was tested with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The correlation between the WHO-5 and other measures of depression and anxiety were calculated to assess the scale's convergent and divergent validity. The discriminant validity of the WHO-5 was explored with a receiver operating analysis compared to the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. The CFA indicated that the factor structure of the WHO-5 was one-dimensional and factorial invariant between groups. The internal reliability of the WHO-5 was adequate and the convergent, divergent and discriminant validity of the WHO-5 was supported. It is concluded that the psychometric properties of the Icelandic version of the WHO-5 are satisfactory.