Is the meaning of subjective well-being similar in Latin American countries? A cross-cultural measurement invariance study of the WHO-5 well-being index during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background There is an urgent need to assess changes in well-being on a multinational scale during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus culturally valid scales must be available. Methods With this in mind, this study examined the invariance of the WHO well-being index (WHO-5) among a sample of 5183 people fr...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Tomás Caycho Rodríguez, Vilca, Lindsey W., Valencia, Pablo D., Carbajal León, Carlos, Reyes Bossio, Mario, Blanco, Miguel, Rojas Jara, Claudio, Polanco Carrasco, Roberto, Gallegos, Miguel, Cervigni, Mauricio, Martín, Pablo, Palacios, Diego Alejandro, Moreta Herrera, Rodrigo, Samaniego-Pinho, Antonio, Lobos Rivera, Marlon Elías, Buschiazzo Figares, Andrés, Puerta Cortés, Diana Ximena, Corrales-Reyes, Ibraín Enrique, Calderón, Raymundo, Franco Ferrari, Ilka, Flores-Mendoza,m Carmen
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2023
Country:Colombia
Institution:Universidad de Ibagué
Repository:Repositorio Universidad de Ibagué
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unibague.edu.co:20.500.12313/3881
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12313/3881
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:COVID-19
Cross-cultural
Invariance
Well-being
WHO well-being index
Description
Summary:Background There is an urgent need to assess changes in well-being on a multinational scale during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus culturally valid scales must be available. Methods With this in mind, this study examined the invariance of the WHO well-being index (WHO-5) among a sample of 5183 people from 12 Latin Americans countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay). Results The results of the present study indicate that the WHO-5 is strictly invariant across samples from different Latin American countries. Furthermore, the results of the IRT analysis indicate that all items of the WHO-5 were highly discriminative and that the difficulty required to respond to each of the five items is ascending. Additionally, the results indicated the presence of moderate and small size differences in subjective well-being among most countries. Conclusion The WHO-5 is useful for assessing subjective well-being in 12 Latin American countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, since the differences between scores can be attributed to differences in well-being and not in other characteristics of the scale.

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