How to Define and Measure Wellbeing: A Framework for Positive Mental Health Research

We all value feeling mentally healthy and want to know how to feel good and function well. However, the research investigating positive mental health has run into challenges in defining and measuring what being ‘mentally healthy’ really means and how to measure it. Different terms such as wellbeing, quality of life, resilience and coping are often discussed, but are these concepts really different, and how do we go about measuring them? It’s important we get clear on this so that we can create clear frameworks to measure and improve mental health research and practice in the future.

Our team has helped to clear up the confusion by reviewing 155 different tools scientists use to measure positive mental health. We looked at the specific ideas (called dimensions) these tools capture, things like vitality, autonomy, or optimism.

In total, we found 410 dimensions of wellbeing across all the measures. We then condensed these dimensions into 21 key themes which help us see how wellbeing, quality of life, resilience and coping relate to one another and the overarching concepts of positive mental health.

Our research can help inform future measurement and theory development and help scientists be guided in their mental health research.

Read the full report here.