Computerised adaptive method for assessing university undergraduates’ mental well-being within an African context : an open-source set-up with Concerto

Abstract

This research presents the development of a computerised adaptive testing system for assessing university undergraduates' mental health in an African setting. An item pool of 375 items that reflect eight sub-constructs of mental well-being (coping with normal stress of life, realising potential, studying effectively, social interaction, school-life balance, emotional stability, healthy living, and belief system) was developed. FastTest was used to pilot-test the item using a sample of 406 undergraduate students from South Africa and Nigeria. Each candidate was given 100 items utilising the linear on-the-fly test administration. Four hundred and seven responses were received which was subjected to psychometric analysis using the Samejima's Graded IRT model to calibrate the items. One hundred and seventy-five items resulted which was used to design the mental wellbeing adaptive scale for use within the university community at no cost to the student and institution. 1. Using concerto, the detailed inflow with an html embedded function is clearly explained. 2. The scale dynamically adjusts the difficulty/relevance of questions based on respondents' previous answers, thereby enhancing precision and reducing users test burden. 3. An adaptable, scalable, and culturally appropriate non-illness method for assessing students’ mental wellbeing being an improvement on the linear form is presented.