• Getting started video
• About Wellbeing
• Wellbeing Temperature
• Can You Bottle Happiness?
• Goal Setting
• Problem Solving
• Mindfulness
• Ten-Minute Walk
• Virtual Gallery - Change the Mood with Music
• Recovery Signposting
• Health Rocks Trail
• Wellbeing Trail - discover Manchester Art Gallery

Wellbeing Thermometer                    

What is the Wellbeing Thermometer?

The Wellbeing Thermometer is included in Start2 as an interesting way of logging and understanding your own patterns of wellbeing. It may also help you capture any changes that happen as a result of using this website and doing creative activities.

The Wellbeing Thermometer is based on a wellbeing measure called the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, or SWEMWBS as it is most commonly known. This tool quite simply measures wellbeing. It is a fairly new measure, and is growing in popularity across the UK, primarily because of its unique wellbeing slant. There are 7 statements on the measure, and each one describes a positive thought or feeling-state known to be linked to wellbeing.

If you want to read more about SWEMWBS or the original longer version WEMWBS, find out about its origin and how it’s being used elsewhere, NHS Health Scotland website is a good starting point. We have adapted and used SWEMWBS by kind permission of the WEMWBS team.

 

How long will it take?

Quick and easy to complete, it only takes a few minutes. We recommend that you take your Wellbeing Thermometer reading every 4 weeks, and track your progress on the wellbeing thermometer map (the map will fill in automatically for you).

 

Getting started:

You can begin filling in your Wellbeing Thermometer whenever you want, although it’s ideal to complete the Wellbeing Thermometer before doing any of the creative exercises, as this will give a more accurate base line reading. A base line means a starting point, from which you then move on, and to which you compare your progress. Comparing to a baseline helps you see changes that happen.  

Next to each statement, you will see 5 boxes - ‘none of the time’, ‘rarely’, ‘some of the time’, ‘often’, and ‘all of the time’.

For each of the statements click on the box which most closely reflects your experience over the past 2 weeks.

Your score will be automatically calculated for you. Generally the higher your score, the higher your level of wellbeing. The highest possible score is 35, and lowest score is 7.
NB:

 

N.B
Whilst the Wellbeing Thermometer (based on SWEMWBS) is an excellent tool for showing patterns of wellbeing, you’re not filling this in under clinical or formal conditions, so just take your scores as a general indicator of how you’re feeling.

Remember that wellbeing isn’t static; it rises and falls depending on what’s going on in our life at a particular time. If you’re concerned about a consistently low score, please contact your G.P. or a health professional.

 

The Start2 website will collect and store your data for you, and show you your wellbeing pattern, over a period of time, in the form of a map. Your personal identity details, and your Wellbeing Thermometer scores are always kept confidential.

SWEMWBS is a research tool validated for measuring wellbeing at a population level. It has yet to be validated for monitoring wellbeing in individuals.
When you complete your wellbeing thermometer it is usual for there to be a difference in score by one or two points. A dip in score doesn’t mean your wellbeing has worsened; it may be a natural fluctuation from one reading to the next.

 

  Take your wellbeing temperature today!