‘How Do You Feel?’: A Self-rating Scale for Measuring Well-being in Refugees

Abstract This study describes the construction and evaluation of an instrument for measuring psychological well-being in refugees. A 16-item scale, ‘How do you feel?’, for concurrent measurement of present and previous well-being was constructed and translated into five languages. Male war-wounded refugees were tested during hospitalization shortly after arrival (n = 60) and after two years (n = 53). The group was culturally heterogenous. The reliability was acceptable (0.78–0.92). Construct vali-dation yielded acceptable validity. Back-translations indicated minor ambi-guities. A revised 10-item version is suggested for future use. The scale is easily administered and provides a potentially useful screening instrument to complement medical examinations. It can also be used for evaluating prevention programs and for research purposes. Key words cross-cultural evaluation • refugees • reliability • validity • well-being scal