2024, Volume 20
Methodological dilemmas concerning measuring of mental and social health: a narrative review
Dawid Dobosz1
1EPIONE Sp. z o.o., Katowice, Poland
Author for correspondence: Dawid Dobosz; EPIONE Sp. z o.o., Katowice, Poland; email: doboszdawid@interia.eu
Abstract
Background and Study Aim: It is commonly accepted that health has three dimensions: somatic, mental and social. There is probably no example of health deterioration manifesting in only one of them. Although one of the essential elements of effective restoring, sustaining, and enhancing health is its proper measurement, the most expanded field of health measurement relates to the somatic dimension. The aim of the study is knowledge about methodological dilemmas concerning measuring mental and social health.
Material and Methods: The author made three assumptions concerning the process of literature searching. Consequently, a variety of key terms related to methodology, psychology and sociology were combined with the word “dilemma” (or its synonyms) and Boolean operators to create diverse search strings. Additionally, the author utilised a scholarly publication discovery tool supported by artificial intelligence.
Results: The study revealed that the main dilemmas in mental health measurement revolve around its conceptualization, the statistical aspects of measurement, and the identification of clinically useful mental health indices. In contrast, the main challenge in social health measurement is the lack of a universally accepted theory. However, more knowledge is available regarding the conceptualization and measurement of directly or indirectly related constructs.
Conclusions: Methodological dilemmas concerning mental and social health measurement mainly revolve around a semantic layer of validation (construct and content validity) of indices of these health dimensions. Some of these dilemmas would not occur if scientists focused more on using precise language or providing high-quality reasoning. The practical consequence of delivering clear and precise scientific knowledge about mental and social health measurement should be creating simple tools useful to assess these health dimensions, which would be easy for ordinary people to use.
Key words: biopsychosocial model of health, complementary research, innovative agonology