Objectives 1 and 2: Assessment of DWELL
This study dealt with the new concept of DWELL. To measure our outcomes, we needed a tool that could help us evaluate DWELL. As we could not find any existing tool in the literature, we needed to build and validate a new instrument that could enable us to evaluate our program. Therefore, we developed a short, 5-item online questionnaire to measure the perceptions of participants regarding the impact of home design on wellness. The new DWELL index, with a score ranging from 0 to 100, was calculated through the sum of questions 1 to 5 on the DWELL questionnaire. It was designed to detect changes in the following:Knowledge and awareness in the context of designing a home for a healthy lifestyle, which affects one’s wellness.Intellectual engagement: this level of engagement is about “thinking DWELL.” The intervention will cause participants to be interested in and think about DWELL.Verbal engagement: this level of engagement is about “talking DWELL.” The intervention will cause participants to talk about designing their home environment for wellness.Behavioral engagement: this level of engagement is about “doing DWELL.” The intervention will cause participants to design their home environment for wellness.Self-efficacy regarding DWELL.We validated the questionnaire on a sample of 613 mothers who answered the questionnaire at the first administration. Of this sample of 613 mothers, 397 (64.8%) answered the questionnaire again at the second administration. Analyses were conducted, and the DWELL questionnaire was found to be a valid tool in a population of mothers and can be used as a valid measure in prevention and wellness interventions. The process of developing and validating the questionnaire has been fully described elsewhere [