A survey of psychological wellbeing in an adult population

The British government has called on all NHS staff to help promote good psychological wellbeing in the population. This article reports results from a survey conducted in Merseyside, England, into the prevalence of poor psychological wellbeing across a large part of the region. People registered with one of five Merseyside primary care trusts were stratified by age group and deprivation, and a questionnaire was mailed to 28,000 who had been randomly selected from those aged 15 or over. A total of 11,168 (45%) completed questionnaires were returned. Of these, 2,442 (21.9%) respondents rated their psychological wellbeing as fairly poor or very poor. Mean levels of psychological wellbeing were significantly worse in a number of readily identifiable groups within the population, but overall, the lowest wellbeing ratings were concentrated in the most socioeconomically deprived quartile. We make a number of practical suggestions for the role of the community nurse in promoting good psychological wellbeing in patients. We also highlight our finding that socioeconomic deprivation was strongly associated with poor psychological wellbeing, which was in turn associated with a lifestyle high in risk factors for non-communicable diseases.