How to get long term Wellbeing

by Dafydd Thomas

Non well-being“I mean, your health really does suffer on here. Everything does. I mean, I look about 40, I’m 23. Why? Because I live here. Nobody would take a house on here, nobody. Who’d want it? ‘Cause it’s just hell really, it’s horrible. But I’m here, so that’s that, isn’t it?...”

Single mother on a housing estate in Lancaster

Professor Gareth WilliamsCardiff University School of Social Sciences

What makes you happy?

• Community and friends

• Work

• Personal Freedom

• Stable family relationships

• Financial situation

• Health

• Spiritual and personal values

Professor Sir Mansel Aylward (January 2010)

Determinants of happiness:

DefinitionsHedonic Wellbeing = consists of pleasure or happiness *Eudaimonic Wellbeing = realised in achieving the individual’s potential *(Ryan and Deci (2001))Subjective Wellbeing = an individual’s assessment of their own circumstances, what they think and feel (harder to measure and influence) **Objective Wellbeing = the social and material attributes that contribute or detract from an individual or community’s wellbeing **Process or Outcome? **(Felce and Perry (1995))

Definitions (cont’d)Quality of life is about the non-material aspects of human wellbeing, and includes subjective and objective featuresWell-being or welfare, is broader than quality of life: it comprises both material resources and non-material aspectsSustainability, which considers whether an activity or condition can be maintained indefinitely, is about whether wellbeing can last in the future (OECD 2010)

Subjective Wellbeing“subjective well-being refers to all of the various types of evaluations, both positive and negative, that people make of their lives. It includes reflective cognitive evaluations, such as life satisfaction and work satisfaction, interest and engagement, and affective reactions to life events, such as joy and sadness. Thus, subjective well-being is an umbrella term for the different valuations people make regarding their lives, the events happening to them, their bodies and minds, and the circumstances in which they live”

E. Diener, ‘Guidelines for National Indicators of Well-Being and Ill-Being’, 28 November 2005

What makes you happy?• Popular use of the term ‘well-being’ usually

relates to health but…• ‘…Well-being’ suggests something more than

physical health, and also something more than good mental health…

• …philosophical use is broader: ‘how well a person’s life is going for that person’

• ‘happiness’, ‘flourishing’; that which ‘makes life worthy of choice and lacking in nothing’ (Aristotle)

What makes you happy?

Health: physical and mental well-being; “the absence of symptoms, illness, disease and morbidity”(WHO 1948 and 2004)

Well-being: subjective state of being:happy and contented;comfortable and satisfied;a quality of life;Includes: physical, material, social, emotional, development and activity dimensions (Danna & Griffin 1999; Diener 2000)

Evidence for Different Outcomes – Priority Fields The Young

FoundationHEALTH

SPORTS AND THE ARTS

COMMUNITY

ENVIRONMENT

FAMILY ANDCHILDHOOD

EDUCATION

WORK AGEING

Why well-being?

‘Well-being provides a strong test of the extent to which policies are coming together to reduce inequalities and to promote sustainable development. A high-level of well-being is a feature of strong and vibrant communities’Welsh Assembly GovernmentHealth, Social Care and Well-Being Strategies: Policy Guidance 2003

Policy drivers for well-being

• Health inequalities and inequities• Sustainable development• Community regeneration• Ageing population• Chronic disease and ‘ways of life’• Economic activity/inactivity

Policy Chronology• 1998 : Welsh Office publishes the green paper, Better Health Better Wales,

which sets out its aims to “improve the health and wellbeing of the people of Wales.”

• 1999 : Welsh Assembly Government established with a statutory duty to promote sustainable development.

• 2000: Local Government Act passed placing a duty on local authorities “to promote social, economic and environmental wellbeing” within their area.

• 2001 : Welsh Assembly Government stated that “increasing GDP does not automatically lead to better quality of life for our people. The way develop is important too.” A Winning Wales Welsh Assembly Government.

• Discretionary local government powers under the Local Government Act 2000 called the “Wellbeing Power” come into force in Wales.

Policy Chronology• 2002: Welsh Assembly Government launches Wellbeing in Wales. “well

being as a core aim around which a concerted effort can be developed across policy areas.” Aimed at providing a “national direction and context for Local Health, Social Care and Well Being Strategies”

• 2006: UK Government’s White Paper “Strong and Prosperous Communities” suggests a place shaping role for local authorities, to promote the general wellbeing of their citizens

• 2008:Professor Joseph Stiglitz from Columbia University is commissioned by President Sarkozy to establish the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress.

• 2009Welsh Assembly Government’s Sustainable Development Scheme “One Wales: One Planet” launched.

• President Sarkozy reports on the Stiglitz Commission stating the France to count happiness as a measure of national progress.

Major new ‘happiness test’ for the people of Wales

The nation’s “happiness” would be officially measured under plans to protect and promote the wellbeing of Welsh people.

Proposals by the Assembly Government to gauge overall life satisfaction have been welcomed by health experts and business leaders as a bold way of building a better balanced country.

Western Mail 1 March 2010

France to count happiness in GDP

“Happiness, long holidays and a sense of well-being may not be everyone’s yardstick for economic performance, but Nicolas Sarkozy believes they should be embraced by the world in a national accounting overhaul”

Financial Times 14 September 2009

Easterlin Paradox

“The Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ... the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl ... Yet [it] does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play ... the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages ... it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”

Robert Kennedy 1968

Aristotle and human advancement

made a distinction between • moral life, which was necessary to attain happiness, and • material life, which was necessary to meet basic needs.

Aristotle thought of well-being as multidimensional, with both material and immaterial dimensions. He also believed that successful communities must share common principles on what is important for well-being, and that consultations are an essential tool to develop consensus on what is important for the good life.

Layard• Be socially connected• Be physically active• Take notice of your

surroundings and savour them

• Keep learning• Give Regularly

Buddhist Hermit• Learn to meditate• Cultivate altruism• Practice mindfulness• Make space for spirituality• Find a spiritual teacher

NEF’s Five a day• Connect• Be active• Take notice • Keep learning• Give

Network Activities• Exploring Sustainable

Wellbeing Toolkit • Literature Search• Partnerships• Communications

What next - questions?

Questions?

www.wellbeingwales.org

dafydd.thomas@wellbeingwales.org