The emotional needs audit (ENA): a report on its reliability and validity

Purpose – To broaden the range of well-being outcomes that can be measured for patients with depressed mood and/or other mental health issues the aim is to determine the reliability and validity of a self-reported instrument that was designed by the Human Givens Institute to evaluate emotional distress (emotional needs audit – ENA).

Design/methodology/approach – The ENA was administered to 176 patients, aged between 18-65 years (mean age: 39.2 years). The acceptability of the ENA was examined as well as its internal consistency (Cronbach's alphas). ENA was administered at four time points and test-retest reliability was conducted between times 1 and 2. The data from three scales also administered to these patients (SWLS, CORE-OM and HADS) were used to aid the conduct of the ENA construct validity (concurrent and discriminant). Analysis of the ENA sensitivity/specificity was also performed.

Findings – All the ENA items (except one) were shown to have good acceptability. The internal consistency was also very strong (Cronbach's alpha: 0.84); the construct validity also revealed positive results for the ENA: concurrent validity (r=0.51-0.62; p<0.001); discriminant validity (r=0.22-0.28; p<0.01). Test-retest reliability was r=0.46 (p<0.001). Finally, ENA demonstrated high sensitivity (80 per cent), and moderate specificity (35 per cent).

Originality/value – ENA was shown to be a valid and reliable instrument for measuring wellbeing, quality of life and emotional distress. It also allows insight into the causes of symptoms, dissatisfaction and distress. It is suggested that this tool has complementarity to standardised tools when used in clinical practice.