OECD Well-being and Mental Health Conference, Jyri Manninen, University of Eastern Finland

OECD WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH
CONFERENCE, session Well-being and mental health:
community relations
Thursday 9 December 2021
jyri.manninen@uef.fi, +358 - 50-3815359
@ManninenJyri
https://uefconnect.uef.fi/henkilo/jyri.manninen/ 1
UEF // University of Eastern Finland
OECD WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH CONFERENCE
Session Well-being and mental health: community relations, Thursday 9 December 2021
Dr., Prof. Jyri Manninen, School of Educational Sciences and Psychology
Participation in adult education
& mental well-being
What we know about mental wellbeing and adult education so far?
• Adults who participate in education have better health and mental
wellbeing than non-participants
– partly based on selection bias – healthier adults are more active
– but participation also seem to improve mental wellbeing
– → egg and chicken dilemma – difficult to study empirically
• “adults” are also a very diverse group with individual differences
• However, many research results indicate that…
– Participation also generate many direct health benefits, especially for
adults who have more problematic life situation:
• improvements can be seen in the areas of physical health, health behaviour, and
wellbeing. (so called Health capital)
• impact on mental wellbeing is clear
• protection, coping and recovery from mental health difficulties
– Participation also indirectly support better mental wellbeing:
• increased self-esteem, self-efficacy, sense of purpose, coping strategies
• social participation and integration, number of friends (Social capital)
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community relations
@ManninenJyri
My own research on wider benefits of liberal arts courses
1. Benefits of Learning within Finnish Liberal Adult Education System (Manninen 2010)
– survey, n = 1744 + group and individual interviews n = 96
2. Benefits of Lifelong Learning (BeLL; Manninen & al. 2014)
– Survey data collected in 10 European countries, n = 8.646; mixed methods, statistical analysis
and qualitative content analysis of open questions (based on 4443 respondents) and semi-
structured interviews (n = 82)
3. Benefits of long-term participation in liberal arts courses (Manninen 2018)
– Survey data, n = 5214, 29 interviews, Finnish adult education center participants
4. Follow-up study of Finnish adult education center participants (Manninen & al. 2019)
– 1 year follow-up of 267 adults (+ 371 other respondents in first questionnaire and 601 in follow-up)
5. Qualitative meta-analysis of perceived wider benefits (Manninen, draft)
– meta-analysis of open answers from studies 1-4
– 15622 open answers by 7311 survey respondents
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Participation in liberal arts courses
•data mainly from liberal arts
courses (singing, handicrafts,
music, history, poetry, cooking,
languages as a hobby...)
•participation as a hobby or for
social interaction
•voluntary participation, relaxed,
no stress
•learning in groups, supported by
teacher/trainer
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community relations
@ManninenJyri
Basic definitions
• Wellbeing
– both mental and general; deals with a psychosocial quality that comprises an
individual's own optimistic attitude and opportunities to influence one's own life
(Field, 2009, 9), a generally positive attitude to life (Tuijnman, 1990).
• Mental wellbeing
– a combined state including factors like mental health, happiness, life satisfaction
and quality of life
– a dynamic state in which the individuals can cope with the normal stresses of life,
are able to develop their potential, work productively and creatively, build strong
relationships with others, and contribute to their community, and achieve a sense
of purpose in society
• Self-rated health (used in the data collection)
– a commonly used and valid indicator of physical and also mental health in
research; good correlation with mortality and other more objective indicators of
health (Chen & Yang 2014, 65)
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Participation & mental wellbeing
After 1 year participation:
• in open questions improved mental wellbeing is
spontaneously reported by 21 – 30 % of respondents
• in structured questions 70 % of respondents
recognize from a list of benefits increased life
satisfaction and happiness; 25 % report significant
improvement
After several year’s participation:
• in structured questions 84 % of respondents
recognize from a list of benefits increased life
satisfaction and happiness; 33 % report significant
improvement
9.12.2021 6
In addition:
• interviews reveal clear mechanisms how participation lead to improvement in mental
wellbeing (”Theory of change”; Breuer, Lee, De Silva & Lund 2016, 2)
• Follow-up data show that more positive changes happen for those in a more difficult
life situation at the beginning of the courses
See appendix, (1) how the open and tructured questions were formulated, and (2) some qualitative results
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community relations
@ManninenJyri
How participation in adult education makes us
healthy – preliminary causal model
Participation
gives:
* time structure
* social
interaction
* sense of
belonging
* small
experiences of
achievement
This builds up
Agency:
* self-
confidence
* self-efficacy
* sense of
purpose
* sense of
better control
of own life
Wellbeing in daily
life → Mental
wellbeing
Health behaviour
Physical health
Which
generates:
* Work related
benefits
* Coping skills
* Social capital
* Skills and
competencies
Thank you!
uef.fi
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community relations
@ManninenJyri
Literature
Breuer, E., Lee, L., De Silva, M. & Lund, C. (2016). Using theory of change to design
and evaluate public health interventions: a systematic review. Implementation
Science (2016) 11:63.
Chen, D. & Yang, T-C. (2014). The pathways from perceived discrimination to self-
rated health: an investigation of the roles of distrust, social capital, and health
behaviors. Social Science & Medicine 104 (2014), 64–73.
Deci, E. & Ryan, R. (2008). Facilitating Optimal Motivation and Psychological Well-
Being Across Life’s Domains. Canadian Psychology 2008, Vol. 49, No. 1, 14–23.
Field, J. (2009). Well-being and happiness. IFLL Thematic Paper 4. Leicester: NIACE.
Hachem, H. & Manninen, J. (2020). Putting educational gerontology principles to the
test: A quantitative confirmation of the empowering benefits of liberal arts
courses. Educational Gerontology, Vol 46, 10, pp. 653-665. DOI:
10.1080/03601277.2020.1805179
Hammond, C. (2002). What is it about education that makes us healthy? Exploring the
education-health connection. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 21(06),
pp.551-571.
Hammond, C. (2004). The impacts of learning on well-being, mental health and
effective coping. In: T. Schuller, J. Preston, C. Hammond, A. Brasset-Grundy & J.
Bynner (Eds.): The benefits of learning. The impact of education on health,
family life and social capital. London and New York (pp. 37-56).
Hammond, C. (2004). Impacts of lifelong learning upon emotional resilience, psychological and
mental health: fieldwork evidence. Oxford Review of Education, Vol 30, No. 4, December
2004.
Manninen, J. & Meriläinen, M. (2015). Monimenetelmällinen näkökulma omaehtoisen opiskelun
hyötyihin. Aikuiskasvatus 2/2015.
Manninen, J. (2010). Wider Benefits of Learning within Liberal Adult Education System in
Finland. In: Horsdal, M. (ed.) Communication, Collaboration and Creativity: Researching
Adult learning. Odense: Syddansk Universitetsforlag.
Manninen, J. (2018). Kansalaisopiston aikuisopiskelijat luokkakuvassa. Kansalaisopiston
merkitys kuntalaisille ja kunnalle. Kansalaisopistojen liiton julkaisuja 3. Helsinki:
Kansalaisopistojen liitto KoL.
Manninen, J., Sgier, I., Fleige, M., Thöne-Geyer, B., Kil, M., Možina, E., Danihelková, H.,
Mallows, D., Duncan, S., Meriläinen, M., Diez, J., Sava, S., Javrh, P., Vrečer, N., Mihajlovic,
D., Kecap, E., Zappaterra, P, Kornilow, A., Ebner, R. & Operti, F. (2014). Benefits of
Lifelong Learning in Europe - Main results of the BeLL-project. Bonn: DIE.
http://www.bell-project.eu/cms/?page_id=10
Manninen, J., Karttunen, A., Meriläinen, M., Jetsu, A. & Vartiainen, A.-K. (2019). Hyvinvointia ja
sosiaalista pääomaa – kansalaisopiston hyödyt osallistujille, kaupungille ja alueelle.
Kunnallisalan kehittämissäätiön Julkaisu 23.
Tuijnman, A. (1990). Adult Education and the Quality of Life. International Review of
Education. 36, 3, pp. 283-298.
Pearce, E., Launay, J., MacCarron, P. & Dunbar, R. (2016). Tuning in to others: Exploring
relational and collective bonding in singing and non-singing groups over time. Psychology
of Music, 2016, 1–17. 10
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community relations
@ManninenJyri
Appendix: Survey questions used in studies 1-4
9.12.2021 11
Open questions = Perceived benefits of participation (recognized spontaniously):
Structured questions = Experience of changes (“self-rated” health changes):
UEF // University of Eastern Finland 9.12.2021 12
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