Self-reported health status is a general measure of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a population. Measuring HRQoL helps characterize the burden of disabilities and chronic diseases in a population. Self-reported health status is a widely used measure of people’s health-related quality of life. In addition to measuring how long people live, it is important to also include measures that consider how healthy people are while alive. Further, reports of days when mental health was not good is a reliable estimate of recent health.

Reliability for the healthy days measures in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System is high. In addition, a study examining the validity of healthy days as a summary measure for county health status found that counties with more unhealthy days were likely to have higher unemployment, poverty, percentage of adults who did not complete high school, mortality rates, and prevalence of disability than counties with fewer unhealthy days. Self-reported health outcomes differ by race/ethnicity, in part, because cultural differences in reporting patterns due to different definitions of health may exist.It is important to be aware of these differences when comparing across population groups.

For more information, please visit the Poor Mental Health Days for Cabarrus County Page on the Robert Wood Johnson County Health Rankings.

Poor Mental Health Days measures the average number of mentally unhealthy days reported in the past 30 days.

To learn more about the Measure Methods. Please visit the Poor Physical Health Days, Measure Methods Section, on the Robert Wood Johnson County Health Rankings Website.