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Measurement properties of the Community Wellbeing Index in older adults

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Abstract

Purpose

The international wellbeing index (IWI) consists of two scales, the personal (PWI) and national (NWI) wellbeing indices. The community wellbeing index (CWI) is a new measure of the individual’s level of satisfaction with the local place of residence. The main goal of this paper is to validate the CWI in a sample of older adults.

Methods

The IWI was satisfactorily applied to survey the global quality of life of a community sample of 1,106 people aged 60 years and over residing in Spain. The CWI psychometric properties were studied using Rasch analysis. Classic psychometric parameters were also analyzed.

Results

Tests of unidimensionality, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, revealed the presence of three subscales: community services, community attachment, and physical and social environment. To achieve adequate model fit of the three subscales to the Rasch model, one item (distribution of wealth) of the initial 11 was removed and item response categories were rescored. The person separation index was 0.82–0.85, indicating a good reliability. All items were free from gender bias. The three subscales displayed satisfactory convergent validity with the PWI and NWI and were able to discriminate between groups with high and low satisfaction with local place of residence.

Conclusion

The CWI, made up of three subscales, is a valid and reliable measure of subjective wellbeing related to the community as assessed by older adults. Further research with this promising measure should focus on cross-national comparisons.

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Abbreviations

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

CA:

Community attachment

CFA:

Confirmatory factor analysis

CFI:

Comparative fit index

CI:

Confidence interval

CS:

Community services

CWI:

Community wellbeing index

DIF:

Differential item functioning

DUFFS:

Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire

EFA:

Exploratory factor analysis

EQ-VAS:

EQ-5D visual analogue scale

GFI:

Goodness-of-fit statistic

IWI:

International wellbeing index

M :

Mean

NS:

Non-significant

NWI:

National wellbeing index

PCA:

Principal components analysis

Prob:

Probability

PSE:

Physical and social environment

PWI:

Personal wellbeing index

RMSEA:

Root mean square error of approximation

SD:

Standard deviation

SE:

Standard error

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (National R&D&I Plan: ref. SEJ2006-15122-C02-00). Prieto-Flores’ position is supported by the Juan de la Cierva program for postdoctoral research, of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. The Carlos III Institute of Health team is a member of the Consortium for Biomedical Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas—CIBERNED). The Spanish Research Group on Quality of Life and Aging is made up as follows: (1) at the Carlos III Institute of Health by M. Joao Forjaz, Pablo Martinez-Martin, Maria-Eugenia Prieto-Flores, Belen Frades-Payo, Carmen Rodriguez-Blazquez and Concepcion Delgado-Sanz; and, (2) at the Spanish National Research Council by Gloria Fernandez-Mayoralas, Fermina Rojo-Perez, Karim Ahmed-Mohamed and Raul Lardies-Bosque.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National School of Public Health, Carlos III Institute of Health and CIBERNED, C/ Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029, Madrid, Spain

    Maria João Forjaz, Maria-Eugenia Prieto-Flores & Alba Ayala

  2. National Centre of Epidemiology, Carlos III Institute of Health and CIBERNED, C/ Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029, Madrid, Spain

    Carmen Rodriguez-Blazquez

  3. Center for Human and Social Sciences, Spanish National Research Council, C/Albasanz 26-28, 28037, Madrid, Spain

    Gloria Fernandez-Mayoralas & Fermina Rojo-Perez

  4. Research Unit, Alzheimer Center Reina Sofia Foundation and CIBERNED. Carlos III Institute of Health, C/Valderrebollo 5, 28031, Madrid, Spain

    Pablo Martinez-Martin

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  1. Maria João Forjaz
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  2. Maria-Eugenia Prieto-Flores
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  3. Alba Ayala
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Correspondence to Maria João Forjaz.

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Forjaz, M.J., Prieto-Flores, ME., Ayala, A. et al. Measurement properties of the Community Wellbeing Index in older adults. Qual Life Res 20, 733–743 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-010-9794-2

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