Managing Well-being Outcomes-based Approach to Public Sector Accountability in New Zealand*

Background: Solo—being intentionally solitary in nature—is receiving growing attention as a valuable outdoor education program component. Its practice and history have been researched in the context of experiential learning, but few studies have explicitly examined how solo experiences can affect dimensions of well-being. This study investigated a broad range of well-being pathways provided by being solo, based on data from Norway, Germany, and New Zealand. Methods: Using qualitative content analysis (QCA), the solo debrief responses of 40 participants (26 females, age: 19–64 years) were analysed, applying the PERMA-V framework (emotions, engagement, relationship, meaning, achievement, and vitality). Variations in the reports were explored as a function of the national sample, gender, age, prior solo experiences and expectations. Results: The study suggests that hedonic and eudemonic well-being pathways, represented by the six PERMA-V pillars, interrelate strongly. The experience of a range of positive emotions and connecting process during solo highlights two of the most frequent findings related to well-being pathways. The secondary findings suggest minor variations in the well-being pathways for the different national samples, gender and age. Expectations and prior experiences with solo were identified as context factors with minor impact. Further, the data-driven analysis identified specific physical activities, landscape features, sense-activation, perception of time and ‘good’ weather as relevant to the specific experience. Conclusions: Solo experiences provide for well-being-related pathways in a multitude of ways, which highlights the well-being potential of solo implementation across practical fields beyond outdoor education, such as wilderness therapy, and environmental and planetary health initiatives. Future studies should continue to explore solo’s well-being potential in different settings, especially in the context of non-Western samples.

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National movement patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand: the unexplored role of neighbourhood deprivation

Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health ◽

10.1136/jech-2020-216108 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. jech-2020-216108 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Malcolm Campbell ◽

Lukas Marek ◽

Jesse Wiki ◽

Matthew Hobbs ◽

Clive E Sabel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Mobile Phone ◽

Well Being ◽

Policy Debate ◽

Population Mobility ◽

Neighbourhood Deprivation ◽

Movement Data ◽

Spatial Inequalities ◽

The Impact

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has asked unprecedented questions of governments around the world. Policy responses have disrupted usual patterns of movement in society, locally and globally, with resultant impacts on national economies and human well-being. These interventions have primarily centred on enforcing lockdowns and introducing social distancing recommendations, leading to questions of trust and competency around the role of institutions and the administrative apparatus of state. This study demonstrates the unequal societal impacts in population movement during a national ‘lockdown’.MethodsWe use nationwide mobile phone movement data to quantify the effect of an enforced lockdown on population mobility by neighbourhood deprivation using an ecological study design. We then derive a mobility index using anonymised aggregated population counts for each neighbourhood (2253 Census Statistical Areas; mean population n=2086) of national hourly mobile phone location data (7.45 million records, 1 March 2020–20 July 2020) for New Zealand (NZ).ResultsCurtailing movement has highlighted and exacerbated underlying social and spatial inequalities. Our analysis reveals the unequal movements during ‘lockdown’ by neighbourhood socioeconomic status in NZ.ConclusionIn understanding inequalities in neighbourhood movements, we are contributing critical new evidence to the policy debate about the impact(s) and efficacy of national, regional or local lockdowns which have sparked such controversy.

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Methods for the 2019 New Zealand family violence study- a study on the association between violence exposure, health and well-being

Kōtuitui New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online ◽

10.1080/1177083x.2020.1862252 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

Janet Fanslow ◽

Pauline Gulliver ◽

Ladan Hashemi ◽

Zarintaj Malihi ◽

Tracey McIntosh

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Family Violence ◽

Violence Exposure ◽

Well Being ◽

Health And Well Being

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Public Sector Employment, Quality of Government, and Well-Being: A Global Analysis

International Area Studies Review ◽

10.1177/22338659211011747 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 223386592110117

Author(s):

Robert Davidson ◽

Alexander Pacek ◽

Benjamin Radcliff

Keyword(s):

Public Sector ◽

Global Analysis ◽

Well Being ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Political Factors ◽

The Public ◽

Employment Quality ◽

The Impact

While a growing literature within the study of subjective well-being demonstrates the impact of socio-political factors on subjective well-being, scholars have conspicuously failed to consider the role of the size and scope of government as determinants of well-being. Where such studies exist, the focus is largely on the advanced industrial democracies of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. In this study, we examine the size of the public sector as a determinant of cross-national variation in life satisfaction across a worldwide sample. Our findings strongly suggest that as the public sector grows, subjective well-being increases as well, conditional on the extent of quality of government. Using cross-sectional data on 84 countries, we show this relationship has an independent and separable impact from other economic and political factors.

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