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Title: WELLBEING: Contributions towards practical strategies to promote social integration


1
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

2
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

3
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

4
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.

5
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)

6
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

7
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

8
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

9
  • 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

10
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

11
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)

12
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

13
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

14
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.
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