BIO-WELL Questionnaire

Abstract

The BIO-WELL Questionnaire, developed by Irvine et al. (2023), is a specialized psychological instrument designed to quantify human wellbeing responses specifically linked to exposure to or perception of biodiversity. The development process was rigorous, incorporating deliberative workshops to define the underlying constructs, in-depth qualitative analysis, expert panel reviews, and subsequent psychometric analyses.

The final scale comprises 17 biodiversity stem questions and five corresponding wellbeing response items. These items underwent extensive evaluation using samples of adult participants recruited in the United Kingdom. Key findings regarding Factor analysis, Item Response Theory (IRT), reliability, and validity confirmed the measure’s robustness for use in environmental and health research.

Keywords

Environmental Attitudes, Biodiversity, Wellbeing, Environmental Psychology, Nature (Environment), Environmental Measures, Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Model.

Authors

Irvine, Katherine N., Fisher, Jessica C., Bentley, Phoebe R., Nawrath, Maximillian, Dallimer, Martin, Austen, Gail E., Fish, Rob, Davies, Zoe G.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the BIO-WELL scale is to serve as a standardized tool applicable across research, policy, and practice sectors. It is intended to advance investigators’ conceptual and empirical understanding of the complex relationship between biodiversity and human health.

Furthermore, the scale provides a means to systematically assess the effectiveness of interventions—such as conservation projects or urban planning initiatives—that aim to enhance exposure to nature and improve population-level wellbeing outcomes.

Construct

The BIO-WELL Questionnaire measures the complex, multi-dimensional construct of human wellbeing as it relates specifically to interactions with and perceptions of biodiversity. It operationalizes this relationship by assessing responses across five distinct domains: Physical, Emotional, Cognitive, Social, and Spiritual wellbeing.

The scale’s structure reflects a comprehensive biopsychosocial-spiritual model of wellbeing, acknowledging that environmental factors trigger holistic responses across mental, physical, and existential dimensions of human experience.

Validity

The validity of the BIO-WELL scale was evaluated through several rigorous psychometric procedures:

• Item Response Theory (IRT): The graded response model was determined to provide the optimal model fit. Subsequent evaluation of item discrimination values, model fit statistics, and infit and outfit values confirmed the retention of five core wellbeing response items from the initial eight tested.

• Convergent and Discriminant Validity: Evidence supported both forms of validity. BIO-WELL mean scores demonstrated a relevant association with, yet clear distinction from, measures of resilience, self-esteem, and general affect, confirming that the scale measures a unique construct related to environmental experience.

• Concurrent Validity: Support was established by successfully differentiating between specific participant subgroups. Individuals who reported frequent experience in woodlands during childhood or adolescence, or those who prioritized visiting the outdoors, exhibited significantly higher overall BIO-WELL scores.

• Predictive Validity: The scale demonstrated strong predictive power. After controlling for sociodemographic covariates, BIO-WELL scores significantly increased the variance explained in three dependent variables: considering spending time outdoors as important, noticing nature more frequently, and identifying more closely with nature.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the BIO-WELL scale was assessed to ensure the coherence of its items in measuring the intended construct.

Internal Consistency: Cronbach’s (1951) coefficient alpha was high for each biodiversity stem question. Furthermore, item-total correlations ranged from moderate to strong, which collectively supports the scale’s ability to reliably capture responses within the proposed biopsychosocial-spiritual model of human wellbeing in relation to biodiversity.

Factor Analysis

Statistical factoring techniques were applied to determine the underlying structure of the scale items.

• Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA): Using principal axis factoring, the authors tested 1-factor, 2-factor, and 3-factor solutions. While statistical support for the number of factors varied across individual biodiversity stem questions, a definitive single-factor structure was not universally supported across all items when considering loadings and model fit statistics together.

• Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): The proposed 1-factor model was evaluated and found to suggest a relatively good fit for the collected data. Most of the biodiversity stem questions met established thresholds for fair model fit across the majority of model fit statistics reported.

Instrument

Test Type: Original Inventory/Questionnaire

Format: The instrument uses a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) format for quantifying responses. Participants position a counter along a 100 mm line (0–100) corresponding to positive or negative linguistic anchors for the wellbeing items. Raw scores are interpreted such that 0–49 initially indicates a positive wellbeing response, 51–100 a negative response, and 50 is neutral. Scores are subsequently inverted for easier interpretation (51–100 = positive wellbeing). The final BIO-WELL score is calculated as the mean of all five wellbeing response items for each of the 17 biodiversity stem questions. The administration method is electronic.

Language Available: English

Population Group: Human; Male; Female

Age Group: Adulthood (18 yrs & older)

Population Details: Respondents were adult participants recruited online from the United Kingdom via a social research company.

Test Methodology: Test Validity, Concurrent Validity, Convergent Validity, Discriminant Validity, Predictive Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Item Response Theory.

Keywords

Environmental Attitudes, Biodiversity, Wellbeing, Environmental Psychology, Environmental Measures, Visual Analogue Scale, Psychometrics.

Authors (Detailed)

Author ORCID Identifier:

• Irvine, Katherine N.: orcid.org/0000-0001-8860-2783

• Austen, Gail E.: orcid.org/0000-0001-6005-4869

Affiliation:

• Irvine, Katherine N.: James Hutton Institute, Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences Department

• Fisher, Jessica C.: University of Kent, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology

• Bentley, Phoebe R.: University of Kent, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology

• Nawrath, Maximillian: University of Leeds, School of Earth and Environment Sustainability Research Institute

• Dallimer, Martin: University of Leeds, School of Earth and Environment Sustainability Research Institute

• Austen, Gail E.: University of Kent, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology

• Fish, Rob: University of Kent, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology

• Davies, Zoe G.: University of Kent, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology

Affiliation Email addresses:

• Irvine, Katherine N.: [email protected]

• Fisher, Jessica C.: No data is Available

• Bentley, Phoebe R.: No data is Available

• Nawrath, Maximillian: No data is Available

• Dallimer, Martin: No data is Available

• Austen, Gail E.: No data is Available

• Fish, Rob: No data is Available

• Davies, Zoe G.: No data is Available

Correspondence Address:

• Irvine, Katherine N.: James Hutton Institute, Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences Department, Aberdeen, United Kingdom, AB15 8QH, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: May use for Research/Teaching

Commercial Use: No

Fee: No

Test Year: 2023

Reference’s

Irvine, K. N., Fisher, J. C., Bentley, P. R., Nawrath, M., Dallimer, M., Austen, G. E., Fish, R., & Davies, Z. G. (2023). BIO-WELL: The development and validation of a human wellbeing scale that measures responses to biodiversity. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 85, 1–15. doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101921

Web Site: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Items of the BIO-WELL Questionnaire

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

This measure consists of 17 biodiversity stem questions and five wellbeing response items. Test items are available, and their location in the source is 2023-38350-001, Table 1, Page 7; 2023-38350-001, Table 2, Page 7.

Biodiversity Attributes

This section delineates the attributes of biodiversity, categorizing them by their thematic aspects and corresponding investigative questions.

Note: Participants were first asked to imagine themselves in a woodland setting and to think about the biodiversity, using the wording, “For each of the following questions, imagine yourself in a nearby woodland at this time of year. Please think about the living things, including the plants, fungi and animals (but not pets, horses, cows, sheep), in that woodland.”

Wellbeing Domains

This section outlines the dimensions of wellbeing, presenting both positive and negative anchors for each domain.

Note: Responses are made on a Visual Analogue Scale with positive and negative linguistic anchors placed either side of a 100 mm line, allowing participants to indicate their wellbeing along the line.

These items were removed from the final scale.