Mental health

Mental or psychological health is measured by means of the Mental Health Inventory 5 (MHI-5). MHI-5 questions refer to how survey participants felt in the 4 weeks prior to the interview. It is an international standard for gauging mental health and comprises 5 questions.

1. Did you feel very nervous?
2. Did you feel so depressed that nothing could cheer you up?
3. Did you feel calm and collected?
4. Did you feel dejected and gloomy?
5. Did you feel happy?

The following answers are possible:
 'always', 'regularly', 'often', 'sometimes', 'rarely' and 'never'. Questions defined as positive (3 and 5) have been attributed the values 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and 0. Questions defined as negative (1, 2 and 4) have been attributed the values 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Subsequently, the sum of the scores is calculated and multiplied by 4. The result varies between the minimum score 0 (very unhealthy) and the maximum score 100 (perfectly healthy).
A score below 60 classifies a person as mentally unhealthy