Development and validation of a new questionnaire to assess perceptions regarding DWELL: Design for WELLness

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Environmental Health
• Health Promotion

Background:

• Home environments significantly impact health and wellness, crucial for disease prevention.
• A gap exists in validated tools to assess perceptions of home design for health and wellness.
• Existing methods lack a standardized approach to measure the impact of home environments on well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel instrument, Design for WELLness (DWELL), to measure perceptions of home design for health and wellness.
• To create a concise, online questionnaire assessing knowledge, awareness, engagement, and self-efficacy related to DWELL.
• To provide a reliable and accessible tool for public health research and practice.

Main Methods:

• Development of a 5-item online questionnaire (DWELL).
• Validation through an online study with 613 mothers (initial) and 397 (retest).
• Statistical analysis including factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha, and Spearman correlations for reliability and validity.

Main Results:

• Factor analysis confirmed a single-factor structure, explaining 61.84% of variance.
• High internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.85) and moderate-to-high test-retest reliability (0.55-0.70) were observed.
• The DWELL questionnaire demonstrated validity as a reliable measurement tool.

Conclusions:

• The DWELL questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing perceptions of home design for wellness.
• This free, online tool addresses a critical gap in public health literature.
• DWELL can be utilized to evaluate the impact of home environment modifications on disease prevention and health promotion.