| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Well-being Questionnaire (W-BQ) was designed to measure psychological well-being in people with diabetes. This study aimed to develop a Japanese version and a short form of the W-BQ.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A linguistic validation process produced a preliminary Japanese version of the 22-item W-BQ, which was distributed to 550 patients. Factor structure, reliability (Cronbach's alpha) and aspects of validity (hypothesised group differences and correlations with other measures) were evaluated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Questionnaires were returned by 464 patients (84.4%). Preliminary factor analysis revealed that the Depression and Anxiety items were dispersed according to the positive or negative direction of the wording. A 12-item W-BQ (Japanese W-BQ12), consisting of three 4-item subscales (Negative Well-being, Energy and Positive Well-being), was constructed that balanced positively and negatively worded items. Cronbach's alpha was high (>0.85) for the 12-item questionnaire and consistently high (>0.82) across sex and treatment subgroups. Cronbach's alpha for subscale scores in the total sample ranged from 0.69 (Energy) to 0.80 (Positive Well-being). Expected subgroup differences indicated significantly poorer well-being in women compared with men and in insulin-treated patients compared with tablet/diet treated patients. Discriminant and convergent validity was supported by minimal correlations between W-BQ12 scores and HbA1c and low-to-moderate correlations with Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (DTSQ) scores.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The W-BQ12 (Japanese) is a short, reliable and valid measure of psychological well-being that is suitable for use with people with diabetes. The items selected to produce the W-BQ12 (Japanese) have since produced psychometrically sound 12-item short-form measures in other translations for use in diabetes and in other chronic illnesses.</p>
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