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Research Instrument Mental Health & Mood // MHI5

Mental Health Inventory-5

5-item mental health screening measure derived from the RAND SF-36 (items 9b, 9c, 9d, 9f, 9h). Assesses psychological well-being and distress over the past 4 weeks. 6-point frequency scale (1=All of the time to 6=None of the time). Items 1, 2, 4 (anxiety/depression) are reverse-scored; items 3, 5 (positive affect) are forward-scored. Score range 5–30; lower scores indicate worse mental health. Widely used as a brief mental health screener.

Purpose Details Scientific Documentation Limitations Related

Purpose

Self-report research instrument, reproduced here under an open license for non-diagnostic educational, research, and self-reflection use.

Details

Administration
Self-Administered
Intended Use
Research

Scientific Documentation

Developer / Author
Veit, C. T., & Ware, J. E. (parent MHI-38); 5-item short form widely used in later SF-36/RAND survey research.
Development Year
1983

Theoretical framework: 5-item short form of the Mental Health Inventory, screening for general psychological distress vs. well-being.

Reliability: Published studies using the short form report acceptable-to-good internal consistency given its brevity.

Validity: Correlates well with the full MHI-38 and with clinical measures of psychological distress in population health research.

References: Veit, C. T., & Ware, J. E. (1983). The structure of psychological distress and well-being in general populations. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51(5), 730-742.

Limitations: Imported from the OpenScales open item-bank project. This specific digital implementation has not been independently clinically validated by PsiQ — scores are for self-reflection, research, and educational purposes only, and are not a diagnosis.

License: Public Domain (https://www.rand.org/health-care/surveys_tools/mos/36-item-short-form.html). Citation: Berwick, D. M., Murphy, J. M., Goldman, P. A., Ware, J. E., Barsky, A. J., & Weinstein, M. C. (1991). Performance of a five-item mental health screening test. Medical Care, 29(2), 169–176. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005650-199102000-00008 This is not a diagnostic tool. If you are in crisis or having thoughts of self-harm, please contact a licensed mental health professional or a crisis helpline in your country immediately. Low/Moderate/High bands below reflect this test's own possible score range only (simple thirds) — they are NOT a clinical threshold or population norm. No such cutoff has been published for this instrument.

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