WELLBEING: Contributions towards practical strategies to promote social integration

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WELLBEING Contributions towards practical
strategies to promote social integration

• Julie Newton
• Expert Group Meeting
• Creating an Inclusive Society Practical
  strategies to promote social integration
• 10 - 13 September 2007, Paris

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Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD) ESRC
Research Group

• To develop a conceptual and methodological
  approach for understanding the social and
  cultural construction of wellbeing in developing
  countries
• Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Thailand and Peru
• Conceptual empirical research in 4 countries
• Improved understanding of dynamics of poverty
• Seeking policy relevance, but not to be policy
  driven

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Defra strategy commitment
Strategy commitment on wellbeing

• Securing the Future (2005) UKs Sustainable
  Development Strategy
• to get a better understanding and focus on
  wellbeing the Government will bring together
  existing research and to explore how policies
  might change with an explicit wellbeing focus.
• Expected outcomes
• Wellbeing indicators
• Policy development

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Why you should be interested in wellbeing?

• Process and content WB provides a framework to
  explore this interaction
• Methods using multidisciplinary approach,
  combining quantitative qualitative, unpack
  processes behind the numbers
• Difference matters!
• Underlying theme of power
• Perceptions and experiences matter! (how people
  think and feel is important), if we are looking
  at rights and responsibilities, need to consult
  people on their values, beliefs, attitudes etc.
• Existing methods/measures Value of mental
  health measures can explore importance of having
  sense of control, feeling part of
  something/community, feelings of alienation etc.

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Defining Wellbeing

• Objective vs Subjective
• Hedonic vs Eudaimonic
• HEDONIC what makes life pleasant/unpleasant,
  focuses on preferences and pleasures life
  satisfaction, presence of positive mood and
  absence of negative mood (often conflated with
  happiness)
• EUDAIMONIC human flourishing, realising true
  potential, sense of purpose, meaning
• Self Determination Theory autonomy,
  competence, relatedness (Ryan Deci)

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Wellbeing according to WeD

• Wellbeing is a state of being with others, where
  human needs are met, where one can act
  meaningfully to pursue ones goals, and where one
  enjoys a satisfactory quality of life
• 3 dimensions
• material
• relational
• affective/cognitive

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Three Building Blocks

• Needs Universal human needs denial always
  results in harm.
• Health, autonomy, competence, security,
  relatedness, meaning
• include psychological and relational needs
• But need satisfiers socially and culturally
  relative
• Socially Meaningful Goals goals inform action
  goals action informed by broader context
  relational
• Cannot explore WB divorced of social context
• Satisfaction with Life Happiness/good feeling
  a good thing BUT more than the absence of
  misery.
• Cant rely on this alone affected by aspirations
  and adaptive preferences
• WeD approach relate to peoples own goals in
  local contexts satisfaction with personally
  important goals in ones lives
• Tension between universalising and concretising
  local perspective
• Tradeoffs between different dimensions of
  wellbeing
• WB not restricted to the individual SOCIAL being

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Common understanding of wellbeing

• Wellbeing is a positive physical, social and
  mental state it is not just the absence of pain,
  discomfort and incapacity.
• It requires that basic needs are met, that
  individuals have a sense of purpose, that they
  feel able to achieve important personal goals and
  participate in society.
• It is enhanced by conditions that include
  supportive personal relationships, strong and
  inclusive communities, good health, financial and
  personal security, rewarding employment, and a
  healthy and attractive environment
  

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• SYNERGIES vision of positive human development
  flourishing centrality of social relationships,
  importance of autonomy
• ADDED VALUE
• 3 building blocks mechanisms processes that
  enable/constrain SI (process outcome/ content?)
  
• Greater appreciation of experiences/perceptions
  and how people think feel, (values, beliefs,
  cultural attitudes)
• How this influences behaviour, how people cope
• Understanding of rships people engage in
• Recognises differences between people matter,
  explains why and how
• Tradeoffs between different visions of wellbeing
• Much more rounded view of peoples lives
• POLICY IMPLICATIONS Evaluating success of social
  integration policies and impact of societal
  context, a way to ENGAGE people

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Wellbeing indicators

• Dominance of objective measures
• Growing interest in SWB measures more complete
  assessment of WB
• hedonic traditions
• Satisfaction with life scale (SWLS) global
  happiness
• Remember, that these are only one dimension of WB
• Need more work to develop eudaimonic WB measures
  (e.g. psychological wellbeing scale Ryff
  Personal wellbeing index (Cummins).
• European Social Survey Third Round (Huppert et
  al)
• Measures useful for tracking progress, do not
  always explain or facilitate understanding of
  processes at work
• WeD rejection of single measures or single method
  approaches

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Defras provisional Wellbeing Measures

• Sustainable Development Indicators 68 in total
  20 Framework indicators, 48 other indicators
• e.g. greenhouse gas emissions, fish stocks,
  employment, health, poverty
• Three framework indicators to be developed
• - social justice
• - environmental inequality
• - wellbeing provisional basis No single WB
  indicator
• New indicator of overall life satisfaction (from
  Defra Survey)
• By proportion at each level
• By social class
• With supporting analysis
• Satisfaction with various factors affecting
  wellbeing, e.g. standard of living,
  relationships, community, achieving goals
• Plus
• Positive mental wellbeing
• Warwick-Edinburgh-Mental-Wellbeing-Scale (incl
  some eudaimonic measures)

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Defras PROVISIONAL Wellbeing Measures

• 39. Fear of crimePerceptions of anti-social
  behaviour 41. Workless households43.
  Childhood poverty45. Pensioner poverty 47.
  Education 50. Healthy life expectancySelf-repor
  ted general health Self-reported long-standing
  illness 51. Mortality rates (suicide)Mortality
  rates for those with severe mental illness 57.
  Accessibility 59. Social justice 60.
  Environmental equality62. Housing conditions
  66. Satisfaction with local areaTrust in people
  in neighbourhood Influencing decisions in the
  local area

• 68. Wellbeing Overall life satisfactionOverall
  life satisfaction by social gradeSatisfaction
  with aspects of lifeSatisfaction with aspects
  of life, by social gradeSatisfaction with
  aspects of life, by ageFrequency of positive
  and negative feelingsFrequency of positive and
  negative feelings, by social gradeFrequency of
  feelings or activities which may have a positive
  or negative impact on wellbeingLevel of
  participation in sportAccess to green
  spaceLevel of participation in other
  activitiesPositive mental health

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WeD methodology

• Outcomes obj subj
• Resources and Needs Questionnaire (RANQ)
• Quality of life WeDQol Goals, Goal Achievement,
  Perceived Resource Availability and Values SWLS
  PANAS
• Structures social being exist in collectivities
• Community profiles
• Structures research adapted welfare regimes
  approach
• Processes
• Income Expenditure stocks of resources
  translated into incomes/expenditures
• Process research qualitative research into key
  forms of action to achieve wellbeing, highlights
  key rships people engage in

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Concluding remarks

• Synergies but also added value!
• Better grasp of HOW people think and feel get an
  understanding of PERCEPTIONS and explain what
  drives them
• A framework to relate processes to outcomes AND
  situate that in wider structures
• Constraints and opportunities
• Understanding of what drives people to behave
  (values, goals), their ability to fulfil needs
  and pursue meaningful goals
• WB multi-dimensional concept, therefore needs
  different methods to explore it.
• Value arises from using the methods together
• Making the most of existing measures (range of
  eudaimonic wellbeing measures mental health
  grasp of how people think and feel)
• Measures important, BUT, should not replace
  in-depth research and analysis essential for
  explaining and understanding social integration
• Promising progress in UK wellbeing measures,
  Equality Review, Commission for Equality and
  Human Rights.