Assessing psychological well-being measures among South African adults in the birth to twenty plus cohort

Abstract

Mental health and substance use disorders account for a significant proportion of disability worldwide. In many developing countries like South Africa, mental healthcare services are often inadequate, forcing people to find their own way of coping with distress and give meaning to their experiences. Therefore, this situation necessitates the conceptualisation and characterisation of the quality-of-life indicators, as well as psychosocial strategies to promote mental well-being. The objectives of this study were to assess the psychometric properties of psychological well-being (PWB) measures in the context of urban Soweto. Data were collected from participants in the Birth to Twenty Plus cohort (n = 1327), in 2018–2019. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses conducted for measures of hope, faith, social support, general self-efficacy, and life satisfaction were taken from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Toolbox Emotion Battery. Cronbach’s alpha was used to determine internal consistencies; discriminant validity was assessed using Pearson correlations. Test-retest reliability analysis was conducted on a subset of participants at three time points which were at least 2 months apart. Overall, the measures of PWB were characterised as having unidimensional factor structures, good model fit indices, high internal consistency and reliability to the paragraph. This study demonstrated that the PWB measures evaluated here are psychometrically sound, and suitable to be used in the South African context.