Assessing Financial Wellness

Nielsen, R. B. (2010). Assessing financial wellness via computer-assisted telephone interviews. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning 21(2), pp. 16-29.

http://6aa7f5c4a9901a3e1a1682793cd11f5a6b732d29.gripelements.com/pdf/vol_21_issue_2_robertnielsen.pdf

Brief Description:   Researchers tested a modified version of The Personal Finance Wellness ScaleTM for use in computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI).  Married adults were surveyed, and results indicated it is robust with respect to a single measure of financial wellness as well as dividing the concept into subjective and objective components. Because of the low level of missing data for the scale items (2.7%), it appears that the eight items are “non intrusive.” Responses were not significantly different by placement of the items in the interview, and strong internal reliability was confirmed.

Implications:   Researchers are encouraged to use this modified version of the Personal Finance Wellness ScaleTM (included in the Appendix of the article) for research on varied populations to establish the validity and reliability of the scale.