Geestelijke gezondheid als positieve uitkomst van behandeling: een empirische vergelijking van drie meetinstrumenten

MENTAL HEALTH AS POSITIVE TREATMENT OUTCOME: AN EMPIRICAL COMPARISON OF THREE INSTRUMENTS Mental health or well-being is more than the absence of psychopathology. Mental health has been operationalized as well-being that comprises of emotional, psychological and social well-being. Research has shown that that psychopathology and well-being are related but distinct continua. As a consequence, in order to develop preventive and curative interventions, it is important to not only study the effects of treatments on psychopathology but on well-being as well, e.g. as part of routine outcome monitoring in health care. In this paper the results are presented of a study on the reliability and validity of three import instruments measuring well-being: the mental health continuum – short form (mhc-sf), the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (wemwbs) and the Flourishing Scale (fs). It is concluded that the mhc-sf, fs and wemwbs are all three reliable and valid instruments for measuring well-being. The mhc-sf has the most comprehensive theoretical underpinnings and has been studied most elaborately.