Psychometric Validation of a Well-Being Survey Among Hong Kong Dental Students

Holistic assessment of student well-being is essential for developing safe, compassionate, and competent health professionals. Existing instruments often focus narrowly on emotional distress, neglecting other critical domains of wellness. This study aimed to validate a comprehensive well-being questionnaire for dental students.

A questionnaire assessing emotional, physical, social, and intellectual well-being was administered to 271 dental students at the University of Hong Kong. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and internal consistency measures were performed to evaluate construct validity and reliability.

The analysis identified six distinct domains: social connectedness and support, academic confidence, physical well-being and lifestyle balance, optimism, learning engagement, and pressure to skip meals for class. After the EFA, one item was removed due to weak loading and measurement ambiguity. This resulted in a 22-item questionnaire with stable factor loading and satisfactory overall internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.795), although some subscales showed low reliability and two items exhibited cross-loadings, indicating areas for future refinement.

This study provides preliminary evidence for the construct validity and reliability of a multidimensional wellness instrument for dental students. While promising for supporting targeted wellness initiatives and student self-awareness, further validation including assessments of convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity is necessary. Future research should explore its applicability across diverse populations, as well as its sensitivity to changes in student well-being over time and in response to interventions.