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The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS)

Assessing the positive mental health of the population requires validated scales that reflect current concepts of positive mental health. The adult mental health indicators work highlighted the fact that there is a need for such scales which capture current thinking and which are validated for use in Scotland, and elsewhere in the UK.

Researchers at Warwick and Edinburgh Universities were therefore commissioned to validate (for the UK) Affectometer 2, a scale previously identified as promising for assessing population positive mental health, and to develop a revised and shortened scale, The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). WEMWBS is a 14 item scale which covers both hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives. Initial validation used student populations but more recently, the WEMWBS was used in two national Scottish surveys (2006 September wave of the Health Education Population Survey (HEPS) and the 2006 Well? What do you think survey?). Data analyses showed that WEMWBS performed equally well in the general population as in student groups.

Information on this research and WEMWBS is contained in the following:
Briefing note Affectometer 2 and WEMWBS validation

Research report on validation of Affectometer 2 and development of WEMWBS Monitoring positive mental health in Scotland: validating the Affectometer 2 scale and developing the Warwick-
Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale for the UK

An article in Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2007 describes the development and validation of WEMWBS to date including analysis of the population survey data HQLO 2007 Volume 5 issue 63

Using WEMWBS

A user guide for WEMWBS is available to help you. This will be updated and revised as necessary as further validation and other data on WEMWBS become available.

We welcome the use of WEMWBS. It is free to use but is copyrighted to NHS Health Scotland and the Universities of Warwick and Edinburgh. Permission is required for use. Dr Kulsum Janmohamed (Sumi) K.Janmohamed@Warwick.ac.uk, working with Professor Sarah Stewart-Brown at the University of Warwick, is maintaining a register of use and is the person to contact when seeking such permission and for answers to questions on using WEMWBS.

Should you decide to use WEMWBS, we ask that when you seek permission for use from Sumi, that you indicate how you are planning to use WEMWBS and after use that you feed back to Sumi on how WEMWBS has performed. Sumi is also the person to contact should you have more technical questions regarding the scale and its use.

If the scale is reproduced, it must include the copyright statement which appears with it and no changes to its wording, response categories or layout must be made. Any report regarding use of WEMWBS also needs to include the following text:
"The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale was funded by the Scottish Executive National Programme for improving mental health and well-being, commissioned by NHS Health Scotland, developed by the University of Warwick and the University of Edinburgh, and is jointly owned by NHS Health Scotland, the University of Warwick and the University of Edinburgh."

Validation of WEMWBS with secondary school aged children

NHS Health Scotland has commissioned Warwick and Edinburgh Universities to test the suitability of using WEMWSB with children aged 13 and 15. This work will be carried out in schools in Edinburgh and Coventry. Beginning in March 2008, the work will be completed Octoebr 2009.

If WEMWBS is suitable for use with this age group, the next step will then be to seek its inclusion in a suitable national Scottish Survey.

When more information is available it will be included here.

Last updated 27th June 2008