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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1435144

Validation of a brief image elicitation task as an indicator of subjective wellbeing in the general population

Provisionally accepted
J. D. Pincus J. D. Pincus *
  • Employee Benefit Research Institute, Washington D.C., United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: A novel image-based method (AgileBrain) demonstrates construct validity as a measure of wellbeing in the general working adult population.: Analysis of data from four large nationally representative samples of American fulltime workers employed by mid-to-large size companies conducted in November 2021 (n = 812), May 2022 (n = 810), June 2023 (n = 986), and January 2024 (n = 1,179). Results: Across all four studies, AgileBrain demonstrates convergent validity across multiple established indicators of subjective wellbeing including the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD-10), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), Neuroticism (BFI-S), UCLA Loneliness Scale, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), Coping Styles (Brief COPE-28), self-reported diagnosed neurodiversity conditions and symptoms, and trauma history.Results across these studies suggest that AgileBrain is useful as a screening tool for detecting compromised wellbeing in terms of construct validity. Given strong preferences for brief, gamified assessments, the validity advantages stemming from less consciously controllable responses, and the statistical advantages of measures associated with high response rates and normal distributions, AgileBrain emerges as strong tool for assessing subjective wellbeing at the population level and offers a promising approach to monitoring treatment effectiveness.

    Keywords: wellbeing, emotional wellbeing, emotional needs, IMAGE-ELICITATION, Short form, thriving, happiness, Wellness

    Received: 20 May 2024; Accepted: 30 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Pincus. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: J. D. Pincus, Employee Benefit Research Institute, Washington D.C., United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.