Psychometric Properties of Various Scales Measuring Psychological Well-Being in a South African Context: The Fort 1 Project

Abstract

Orientation: From the perspective of positive psychology, it is important to evaluate people's strengths. There is, however, a lack of validated measures for these purposes in many of the South African official languages. As language is a medium for cultural meanings, measures of mental health should be validated in the mother tongue of the people involved. Research purpose: The aim of this study was therefore to explore the psychometric properties of Setswana versions of three measures of psychological wellbeing, namely the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC) (the 29-item version) (Antonovsky, 1987), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) (Diener, Emmons, Larson & Griffen, 1985) and Affectometer 2 (AFM) (Kammann & Flett, 1983). Research design, approach and method: A cross-sectional survey design was implemented for this study. Questionnaires were translated, back-translated and evaluated in a research-committee approach. A stratified sample of 738 Setswana-speaking participants completed the questionnaires in randomly selected sites of the North West province of South Africa as part of the multi-disciplinary Transition and Health during Urbanisation of South Africans project. Reliability indices, means, standard deviations, ranges of scores, patterns of correlations and factor structures were established for all the scales. Main findings: The present Setswana SWLS and AFM are reliable and valid for use in this group, as is, to some extent, the SOC. The factor structures of the three scales were also consistent with the latent factor structures of the original scales. Practical implications: These validated measures are instruments for use in the clinical, community and work contexts of Setswana-speaking people.