Emotional and psychological well-being in children: the development and validation of the Stirling Children's Well-being Scale

The Stirling Children's Well-being Scale (SCWBS) was developed by the Stirling Council Educational Psychology Service (UK) as a holistic, positively worded measure of emotional and psychological well-being in children aged eight to 15 years. Drawing on current theories of well-being and Positive Psychology, the aim was to provide a means of measuring the effectiveness of interventions and projects designed to promote children's well-being and emotional development. A total of 18 schools and 1849 children participated in the construction and validation of the scale, which ultimately emerged as a short, robust measure comprising 12 items. The scale is offered for use by educational and health professionals interested in promoting and measuring the emotional development and well-being of children and the effectiveness of interventions.