Evaluating the psychometric characteristics of the Psychological General Well-Being Index with a new response scale

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric characteristics of a revised version of the Psychological General Well-Being index (PGWB), the PGWB-R, using a standardized response option suitable for use in telephone surveys. Sixty patients (42 women and 18 men) from two gastroenterology specialty clinics participated in the study. Patients were administered the PGWB or PGWB-R and the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS) by telephone or face-to-face interview. Internal consistency reliability levels of the PGWB and PGWB-R were comparable, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients between 0.93-0.96 for the total scale across method of administration. Intraclass correlations between the two methods were high (0.66-0.84). Pearson correlations between the GSRS and the PGWB and PGWB-R were similar to one another and to coefficients reported in the literature. Results suggest the PGWB-R may be useful for studies requiring telephone interviews.