The WEMWBS.

Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS).

At the Smart Clinic, we choose to use the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) because it is a reputable, well-researched tool, validated for use in both schools and the workplace setting.

The test was funded by NHS Scotland, and was developed jointly by the Universities of Warwick and Edinburgh, led by Professor Sarah Stewart-Brown.

For more information, please visit the Warwick Medical School website here.

There are a number of resources and further studies that have been published to supplement the WEMWBS, one of the most comprehensive being a workbook developed for a study in Coventry, which can be accessed here.

Based on the various studies and findings, we use categories as referred to by Warwick Medical School in their discussion around results interpretation, particularly the Donatella Bianca report.

As this scale correlates very closely to the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scales, similar bandings can be considered. This means that a result of 40 or below means that a participant could be at high risk of major depression (very low category), and 44 or below could be considered in high risk of psychological destress and increased risk of depression (low category). The NHS in the past have also used these categories. Scores of 45-53 fall close the national average mental wellbeing scores, and therefore we use the ‘moderate’ category. There is no clinical standard for measuring high mental wellbeing, so we use a similar banding of ‘high’ for scores of 54-60, and ‘very high’ for 61-70, to complete the spectrum.

Further information and user guides can be found here.