Delivered by Nancy Hey, Director of the What Works Centre for Wellbeing at a Local Authorities evidence and wellbeing workshop in September 2018.
The presentation covers:
What wellbeing is, how its defined and measured and why it matters
The link between wellbeing, a fairer society and making the economic case for prevention
Key factors that influence wellbeing building on the UK’s world-leading science
How wellbeing can be a powerful tool for public health and as a public health outcome in its own right
2. Explain what well-being is, how its defined and
measured and why it matters
Explain the link between wellbeing, a fairer society
and making the economic case for prevention
Describe key factors that influence wellbeing
building on the UK’s world-leading science
Show how wellbeing can be a powerful tool for
public health and as a public health outcome in its
own right
Session aim
Objectives – by the end of the session be able to
4. Nancy Hey
Centre Director
What, Why, How and Who
Independent Unbiased Rigorous Concise Relevant Accessible
What Works
for Children’s
Social Care
Wales Centre for
Public Policy
• Independent of government
• Systematic reviews of the
evidence base
• Translate assessments into
practical guidance
• Identify and fill evidence gaps
through trials
• Incentivize and build the
capacity of decision makers to
generate and use evidence
7. Better mental health for all
Wellbeing has an image problem, people think its fluffy – its
not.
The “Wellbeing Industry” confuses the issue
Health is a state of complete
physical, mental and social
wellbeing and not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity.
Wellbeing is more than health
Most of what makes us healthy is affected by things
outside the healthcare system
8. Part 1 What is wellbeing
What people in the UK said
• Feeling safe
financially comfortable, having good physical and mental
health, good food, job, housing, access to natural
environment and transport
• Feeling loved
respected and appreciated, belonging, having positive
connections, time alone, appreciation of difference and
feeling part of something bigger
• Feeling fulfilled
a sense of achievement, inspiration, feeling valued, fun,
learning, opportunities, control, agency and choice
9. Part 1 What is wellbeing
What do practitioners say?
We talk about
• self-esteem
• community
cohesion
• life satisfaction
• anxiety
These are all part of
what makes up
wellbeing
11. What we do in the UK
Part 1 What is wellbeing
Defining and Measuring
12. ONS Wellbeing Framework – informed by public debate
Part 1 What is wellbeing
‘how we are doing’
as individuals, communities and as a nation
and how sustainable this is for the future
15. Objective circumstances don’t always
match subjective experience
• Crime vs fear of crime
• Growth vs feeling better off
• Employment vs job satisfaction
• Health vs satisfaction with health
• Isolation vs loneliness
Are they moving in the same direction?
Comparison is interesting for policy
- Subjective Experience +
Consider subjective evidence in developing your policies alongside
objective
Objective circumstances –
good/ improving
but
Subjective experiences –
poor/ deteriorating
Objective circumstances –
good/ improving
and
Subjective experiences –
good/ improving
Objective circumstances –
poor/ deteriorating
and
Subjective experiences
– poor/ deteriorating
Objective circumstances –
poor/ deteriorating
but
Subjective experiences
– good/ improving
Mean centred Healthy Life Years vs Satisfaction
Quality of life as people experience it
Part 1 What is wellbeing
16. 10/2/2018
Part 1 What is wellbeing
Valuing what matters & sustainability for the future
Related frameworks for:
• Children
• Young People
• Social Capital
• Economic Wellbeing
• Sustainable Development
Valuations:
• Household production
• Capitals (natural, human…)
17. ‘Overall’ Subjective Measures
4 personal well-being questions
Eudaimonic
perspective
See ONS results
Evaluative
perspective
Negative
experience
perspective
Positive
experience
perspective
Answered on an 11 point scale: 0 means ‘Not at all’, 10 means ‘Completely’
World-Leading Cross cutting measures
Part 1 What is wellbeing
How satisfied are you
with your life
nowadays?
How happy did you
feel yesterday?
How anxious did you
feel yesterday?
To what extent do you
feel the things you do
in your life are
worthwhile?
4 perspectives
18. Part 1 What is wellbeing
Exercise 4 How is personal wellbeing measured
• How satisfied are you with your life nowadays?
• To what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are
worthwhile?
• How happy did you feel yesterday?
• How anxious did you feel yesterday?
I would like to ask you questions about your feelings on aspects of your life.
There are no right or wrong answers.
I’d like you to give an answer on a scale of nought to 10,
where nought is ‘not at all’ and 10 is ‘completely’.
Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?
19. • Mean Life Satisfaction across the UK is 7.6
• Public Sector workers is 7.8
• % with higher wellbeing (7-10 out of 10) in the
Civil Service = 65%
Personal Well-being (2012-15)
Percentage of civil servants completing survey
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Life Satisfaction
(7-10)
Worthwhile
(7-10)
Happiness
(7-10)
Anxiety
(0-3)
2012 2013 2014 2015
Part 1 What is wellbeing
How are you doing?
20. Part 1 What is wellbeing
How is your organization doing? 2016
21. Part 2 Wellbeing at Work
Wellbeing makes engagement sustainable – 2017
22. Personal Wellbeing in the UK
Part 1 What is wellbeing
London lower average ratings of
• life satisfaction
• anxiety
• feeling things in life are worthwhile
Northern Ireland higher average ratings all
personal well-being measures except anxiety,
Women
• Higher life satisfaction
• Higher worthwhile
AND
• higher levels of anxiety
Mean Life Satisfaction across the UK Interactive Maps
23. Improved year on year for 5 years from March 2012-15……but not 2016.
Quarterly updates from Sept 2016
National to organisational
How are we doing in the UK
24. Improved year on year for 5 years from March 2012-15……but not this year.
Quarterly updates post referendum…
Part 1 What is wellbeing
How will Brexit affect wellbeing in UK?
26. Evaluative - Domain specific e.g how happy/satisfied are you with e.g.
transport/healthcare
• Drivers less known
• Useful for identifying stress points and improving services
Psychological and Social Wellbeing
• WEMWBS Mental Wellbeing
• PERMA and PERMA +
• Psychological Flourishing
• Social capital
Hedonia – positive and negative affect
• Experience sampling
• Day reconstruction
• Time use
• Customer feedback e.g. touchpads, facial recognition
• Big data, sentiment analysis e.g. twitter
Part 1 What is wellbeing
Other new and old ways of measuring wellbeing
27. Part 1 What is wellbeing
Wellbeing and National Events
28. Useful but not representative or precise for
complexity e.g. #happysheffield and Using social
media to assess health from afar
Part 1 What is wellbeing
Social media analysis #Happysheffield
29. Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale
None of
the time
Rarely Some of the
time
Often All of
the time
I’ve been feeling optimistic
about the future
I’ve been feeling useful
I’ve been feeling relaxed
I’ve been dealing with
problems well
I’ve been thinking clearly
I’ve been feeling close to
other people
I’ve been able to make up
my own mind about things
X
31. Summary
• There are many definitions, frameworks and views on well-being
• At it’s most powerful well-being is defined as ‘what matters most’, by citizens
through national debate and consultation.
A nation’s well-being is best defined by its own citizens
• Objective circumstances don’t always match subjective experiences
• Use both objective and subjective evidence to develop a more rounded
picture of progress.
Subjective experiences matter to policy and services
• Huge amount of research indicating it is an important social outcome in its
own right, and instrumental to achieving other outcomes we value.
• We know much about what influences and drives personal well-being
Subjective well-being is a particularly important policy tool
Summary – What is wellbeing
Part 1 What is wellbeing
33. Age
Children
Disability
Economic activity (work)
Education
Ethnicity
Gender
Index of multiple deprivation
Marital status
Migration
Mode of interview
Region
Religion
Self-reported health
Socio-economic status
Housing Tenure
Self-reported health
Economic activity
Marital status
Age
Mode of interview
Ethnicity
Region
Housing Tenure
Religion
Socio-economic status
Index of multiple deprivation
Education
Gender
Disability
Migration
Children
Largest Effects
Smallest Effects
Part 1 What we know
Exercise 6 Factors that influence life satisfaction
34. Part 1 What we know
Typical wellbeing over a life time
35. Part 1 What we know
Anti-depressant use by age
38. Part 1 What we know
What are we doing that’s different?
39. Part 1 What we know
Impact of life events? What much and how long?
• Life events matter
• Some things hurt
more than others
• Some we recover
from
• Some we don’t
Unemployment, Marriage, Divorce,
Widowhood, Birth of child, layoff
40. Part 2 What Works
Very few things impact wellbeing as much as work
41. What makes the difference?
Internationally we know that three quarters of the difference in wellbeing between the
top 10 and bottom 10 countries and regions can be explained by:
1.Social support – have someone to rely on
2.Freedom to choose what you do in life
3.Kindness – give to charity/volunteer
4.Trust - Absence of corruption
5.GDP
6. Healthy life expectancy
42. What we know
Across the life course: protective factors/determinants
Childhood & Home
1. Mother’s mental health
2. Childhood emotional health
3. School/Home 50:50
= 50% later adult wellbeing
Adulthood
1. Emotional Health (and Physical
health self-perceived)
2. Partner relationship
3. Employment
Emotional health is predictive of later adult life satisfaction up to 8 years before
43. Life Satisfaction impact
• Employment = +0.5 units of life
satisfaction
• Physical active x1 week =+0.2
units life satisfaction
• Listening to music = +0.1 units
of life satisfaction
• Classical music concert = +0.19
units life satisfactions
Happiness impact
• Employment = +0.3 units happiness
• Physical active x1 week = 0.17 units
happiness
• Listening to music = +0.8 units of
happiness
• Gospel concert = +0.72 units of
happiness
Impact and Cost Effectiveness
How to compare and prioritise?
44. Greater negative link with wellbeing
Physical
activity
Partner
relationship
Music
Employed
TrustS’one to
rely on
Unemployed
Longer
Commute
Low-qual
work
Noise
pollution
Air pollution
Years of
Educat’n
But it depends on the characteristics of the job.
Those with greater stability, clarity and social
relations tend to be best for wellbeing
High qual
work
Mixed
evidence or
no effect
Having a
child
Personal Wider environment and play Work
Green
Space
Poor health Loneliness
Selected factors and link with Life Satisfactionn
Note that this is not a meta-analysis, but rather a selection of independent variables from selected studies.
Greater +ve and -ve effect demonstrate where selected studies have shown a greater than +/- 5% link with overall wellbeing.
Smaller negative link with wellbeing
Smaller positive link with wellbeing
Greater positive link with wellbeing
Greater negative link with wellbeing
Smaller negative link with wellbeing
Smaller positive link with wellbeing
Greater positive link with wellbeing
Basic needs
What we know
How big a challenge or resource?
45. Local Area Adult Wellbeing Indicators
The known drivers of wellbeing using existing data
-> Download
46. Applied to workplace
Workplace drivers of wellbeing
What makes the biggest
difference where you are?
Workplace index being tested
47. Community wellbeing – tools and resources
Online measurement toolkit for VCSE sector
1. Wellbeing explained
2. Measuring wellbeing
• Planning and designing evaluations
• Practical considerations
3. Wellbeing survey questions
• Personal wellbeing questions
• Social capital questions
• Writing your own & open questions
4. Survey Builder
5. Analysing results
whatworkswellbeing.org/measure
48. Outcomes for better lives
Yes….and…..
Wellbeing
Feel Good
Day to day and overall – happiness,
purpose, contentment, low anxiety
External Conditions
Quality of Life
Feeling safe
Social Context
Relationships, community,
power
Function well
Competent, choice, control,
meet needs
Personal
Genes 30%, resilience,
optimism, characteristics
14 universities, 7 civil society organisations and OECD
Wellbeing across the life course & methodology
LSE, Oxford, UCL, OECD, Action for Happiness, How to Thrive
Community wellbeing
Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds Beckett, Durham, Goldsmiths, Happy City, Centre for Local Economies, Social Life, Locality, New Economics Foundation
Work & learning
UAE, Essex, Sheffield
Culture & sport
Brunel London, LSE, Brighton, Winchester
The work of the Centre builds on the National Debate from 2010 and the subsequent measurement by ONS.
The work of the Centre builds on the National Debate from 2010 and the subsequent measurement by ONS.
Many global institutions and governments use GDP as a measure of social progress and development, although the creator of GDP said it was not designed to be used this way.
The welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income.
Simon Kuznets on GDP and well-being in 1934.
Simon Kuznets, 1934. “National Income, 1929–1932”. 73rd US Congress, 2d session, Senate document no. 124, page 7.
Distinctions must be kept in mind between quantity and quality of growth, between its costs and return, and between the short and the long term. Goals for more growth should specify more growth of what and for what.”
Simon Kuznets in 1962.
The conversation has recently focused on ‘beyond GDP’ and finding new measures of what matter to people. Wellbeing is increasingly being used a measure of social progress and in this talk Jan explores the economics of wellbeing.
Three perspectives are important
Evaluative – long term wellbeing
Experiential – happiness and anxiety
Eudiamonic – sense of meaning/ purpose
Evaluating ‘self’ disagrees with Experience self in many cases. E.g. Evaluating self might think having email is a good thing – convenient, flexible etc. but experiencing self might feel pressure to work out of hours etc. Parenting is similar – higher ‘worthwhile’ but higher stress/ anxiety.
Need positive and negative experience because – absence of negative experience is not the same as presence of positive emotions. Also more sensitive to positive than negative experiences.
SWB matters because there are links to engagement, absenteeism/ presenteeism and productivity.
Staff wellbeing is not just about being a good employer it’s also about productivity and the bottomline.
Can affect outcomes - nurses subjective wellbeing had been linked to patient care for example.
What are we doing:
- staff wellbeing strategies
- proactive OH/ EAP strategies
- stress courses
SWB matters because there are links to engagement, absenteeism/ presenteeism and productivity.
Staff wellbeing is not just about being a good employer it’s also about productivity and the bottomline.
Can affect outcomes - nurses subjective wellbeing had been linked to patient care for example.
What are we doing:
- staff wellbeing strategies
- proactive OH/ EAP strategies
- stress courses
SWB matters because there are links to engagement, absenteeism/ presenteeism and productivity.
Staff wellbeing is not just about being a good employer it’s also about productivity and the bottomline.
Can affect outcomes - nurses subjective wellbeing had been linked to patient care for example.
What are we doing:
- staff wellbeing strategies
- proactive OH/ EAP strategies
- stress courses
SWB matters because there are links to engagement, absenteeism/ presenteeism and productivity.
Staff wellbeing is not just about being a good employer it’s also about productivity and the bottomline.
Can affect outcomes - nurses subjective wellbeing had been linked to patient care for example.
What are we doing:
- staff wellbeing strategies
- proactive OH/ EAP strategies
- stress courses
SWB matters because there are links to engagement, absenteeism/ presenteeism and productivity.
Staff wellbeing is not just about being a good employer it’s also about productivity and the bottomline.
Can affect outcomes - nurses subjective wellbeing had been linked to patient care for example.
What are we doing:
- staff wellbeing strategies
- proactive OH/ EAP strategies
- stress courses
SWB matters because there are links to engagement, absenteeism/ presenteeism and productivity.
Staff wellbeing is not just about being a good employer it’s also about productivity and the bottomline.
Can affect outcomes - nurses subjective wellbeing had been linked to patient care for example.
What are we doing:
- staff wellbeing strategies
- proactive OH/ EAP strategies
- stress courses