RESEARCHER HUB

The data is hosted on our in-house data repository called Brainbase (https://brainbase.io/)

The databased in updated in real time as soon as a respondent takes the MHQ. Approximately 1000-2000 records are added per day.

Information on the data descriptors and other supporting information can be found once you login to Brainbase. There are shared files that contain information on the column structure and data entries.

The file is downloadable as a CSV file. You can choose to download all the data (warning: the file size is quite large) or you can choose to download a subset of the data using our data filtering interface. The interface allows you to filter by country, language, time, age and gender.

Yes, the data is fully anonymized. In the MHQ assessment, respondents are given the option to provide an email address to receive a personalized report containing their MHQ score. These email addresses are encrypted and converted into anonymized identifiers that can be used to identify repeat respondents within the data.

The data used in this study received ethics approval from the Health Media Lab Institutional Review Board (Office for Human Research Protections Institutional Review Board #00001211, Federal Wide Assurance #00001102, IORG #0000850).

Yes, as long as they are going to use it for not-for-profit purposes. However, it is better to get them to set up their own Brainbase account so that they can also be part of the community and receive updates about the data.

Yes, you can. Please get in touch with us at: info@sapienlabs.org so we can discuss your requirements.

Please use the following citation for the database: Newson, J., & Thiagarajan, T. (2021, June 17). Dynamic Dataset of Global Population Mental Wellbeing. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/vtzne

Go to the brainbase page ( https://brainbase.io/ ) and click on “Forgot password?”.

The MHQ was developed based on a comprehensive review of symptoms assessed across 126 commonly used psychiatric assessment tools spanning 10 disorders including depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, Bipolar, ASD, ADHD, eating disorder, addiction and psychosis. The resultant 47 elements were then split into two formats: mental functions that could manifest as a spectrum from positive to negative and those symptoms that purely represented detractions from overall mental health. You can read more here and here.

The MHQ was developed 1) for a general population to look across the spectrum from distressed to thriving and 2) to span the full breadth of potential symptoms. You can read more here.

The MHQ includes 47 questions relating to mental functioning (27 spectrum questions, 20 problem questions). It also includes questions on life context factors that are important contributors to mental being. You can read more here.

Spectrum questions are designed to reflect the fact that the element could be an asset for some individuals but a problem for others. The scale for these questions therefore ranges from “It is a real challenge and impacts my ability to function”, through to “It is a real asset to my life and my performance”. You can read more here.

Problem questions are designed to reflect functions or dysfunctions that typically have a negative impact on someone’s life and could rarely be seen as a positive asset. The scale for these questions therefore ranges from “Never causes me any problems” through to “Has a constant and severe impact on my ability to function”.You can read more here.

Both spectrum and problem questions are answered based on the current perception of the respondent. You can read more here.

The Mental Health Quotient or MHQ is an aggregate metric of mental health, that positions individuals on a spectrum from distressed to thriving. It is based on an algorithm that thresholds ratings as negative and positive based on the severity of impact to function and applies a nonlinear transformation of the scale such that increasing negative impact to function is amplified. You can read more here.

The assessment has been validated for sample to sample consistency and MHQ scores have been validated as an effective measure of functional impact in various ways. First, MHQ scores linearly relate to work productivity including absenteeism and presenteeism and MHQ scores decrease systematically as the number of clinical symptoms and clinical diagnoses increase. The life impact scale has also been validated against other scales of frequency and severity of symptoms. Finally elements of the assessment have been validated against the PHQ-9 and GAD-7. You can read more here.

The MHQ is a transdiagnostic measure of mental health and wellbeing. It was developed based on the symptoms asked about in commonly used mental health assessment tools and interviews spanning 10 disorders including depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, Bipolar, ASD, ADHD, eating disorder, addiction and psychosis and therefore contains elements that can be mapped to the disorder criteria laid out in the DSM-5. You can read more about this mapping and alignment here. Validation data across a sample of 174,618 respondents, showed that 89% of people who have MHQ scores in the distressed category range (MHQ score <−50) had symptom profiles that aligned with at least one of the 10 DSM-5–defined disorders. You can read more here.

Custom versions of the MHQ can be developed for research and/or measurement of mental wellbeing of specific populations (e.g. Employees of a particular Company, University Student Body, Municipality etc). To inquire about creating and using a custom version please contact callyn@sapienlabs.org