Description

The Perceived Wellness Survey (PWS-36) is a self-report instrument designed to assess an individual’s overall wellness through a multidimensional approach. It consists of 36 items and evaluates six core dimensions of wellness, providing a broad picture of how individuals perceive their functioning, balance, and overall quality of life.

Assessment Dimensions

The PWS-36 covers six main dimensions of wellness:

Psychological Wellness, referring to the way individuals perceive their mental health, psychological stability, and ability to manage stress and everyday demands.

Emotional Wellness, reflecting life satisfaction, happiness, and the ability to cope effectively with emotional challenges.

Social Wellness, focusing on the quality of social relationships, interpersonal connectedness, and the ability to establish positive and supportive relationships.

Physical Wellness, referring to the perceived quality of physical health, fitness, health-related habits, and overall bodily functioning.

Spiritual Wellness, relating to meaning in life, personal beliefs, and, where relevant, spiritual or religious practices.

Intellectual Growth, referring to personal development, learning, the cultivation of knowledge and skills, and progress toward individual goals.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the PWS-36 is to provide a multidimensional assessment of perceived wellness in order to generate a comprehensive profile of an individual’s overall well-being.

More specifically, the scale can be used to understand how individuals perceive their wellness across different areas of life, identify domains in which support or intervention may be needed, and investigate factors associated with health, quality of life, and psychological adjustment.

Scoring

The 36 items are rated using a Likert-type response scale, with participants indicating the extent to which each statement reflects their own experience of wellness.

Responses can be examined separately across the six dimensions or combined to provide a broader representation of overall perceived wellness.

Data Analysis and Use

PWS-36 data can be analyzed to explore both overall wellness and its individual dimensions.

Common analytical approaches include reliability analysis, such as the calculation of Cronbach’s alpha, factor analysis to examine the structure of the six wellness dimensions, and correlational or comparative analyses to investigate relationships with variables such as physical health, psychological resilience, and stress levels.

Reliability and Validity

Psychometric evaluation of the PWS-36 may include assessment of the internal consistency of the individual dimensions and the overall scale, as well as confirmatory factor analysis to evaluate whether the proposed multidimensional structure is supported by the data.

Cross-validation across different populations may also be used to examine the cross-cultural validity and generalizability of the instrument.

Applications

The PWS-36 can be used in health, psychological, counseling, educational, and quality-of-life research.

It may also be applied in the development and evaluation of wellness programs, the monitoring of psychological and physical health indicators, and research examining how different dimensions of life contribute to overall personal well-being.

References

Adams, T., Bezner, J., & Steinhardt, M. (1997). The conceptualization and measurement of perceived wellness: Integrating balance across and within dimensions. American Journal of Health Promotion, 11(3), 208–218.

Harari, G. M., Lane, N. D., Wang, R., Crosier, B. S., Campbell, A. T., & Gosling, S. D. (2016). Using smartphones to collect behavioral data in psychological science: Opportunities, practical considerations, and challenges. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(6), 838–854.

Roscoe, L. J. (2009). Wellness: A review of theory and measurement for counselors. Journal of Counseling & Development, 87(2), 216–226.