JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The clinical heritage of mental health assessment means that most tools are built around specific psychiatric disorder classification systems. However, given that the general population falls along a continuum of disordered to thriving, a system that is skewed towards disorders and dysfunction and underrepresents well-being and abilities is not appropriate for the assessment of mental health across the general population. Furthermore, existing mental health assessment tools provide an incomplete picture of symptomatic experience creating ambiguity, bias, and inconsistency in mental health outcomes and confusing the development of effective interventions and policies.

Objective:

The objective of this paper is to present a new online assessment tool designed for the general population called the Mental Health Quotient (MHQ) that covers the complete breadth of mental health and well-being, spanning from normal function to clinical symptoms. Its purpose is to provide a topline assessment of population mental health that is not tied to an arbitrary system of disorder classification, as well as to provide a disorder agnostic view of an individual’s mental health profile.

Methods:

The MHQ was developed based on a comprehensive review of 126 existing mental health assessment tools, covering 10,154 questions in total. Coding, consolidation and reorganization of this content resulted in the identification of 47 attributes of mental health and well-being which were formulated into an online tool, accompanied by questions relating to demographic, experiential and momentary factors. Initial data was then collected online from 1017 adult respondents (63% female; aged 18 to 85+) to test the tool. Overall MHQ scores (spanning from ˗100 to +200), as well as for 6 categories of mental well-being (spanning from ˗50 to +100) were computed using an algorithm based on a nonlinear weighting of attribute severity, and data was inspected to provide a preliminary illustration of the output.

Results:

The MHQ tool was easy to understand (99.5% agreement) and fast to complete (average 14 minutes). Overall the range of MHQ scores spanned from clinical/at risk (2%/12% of respondents respectively) through to thriving (10%). Preliminary data indicated that MHQ scores were normally distributed in the positive range with an average score of approximately 100 for the overall MHQ and ranged from 48 to 55 for sub-scores in each of 6 mental well-being categories. Scores were lowest in the 18-24 age bracket (24% of scores below 0 indicating clinical/at risk compared to 8% to 14% for all other age brackets). The lowest MHQ scores were seen in the mental well-being categories of Social Self and Mood and Outlook.

Conclusions:

The MHQ provides a quick, easy and comprehensive way to assess mental health and well-being in the general population and identify at-risk groups.