Case Study From Palestine

Conflict and trauma are constant features of the socio-political landscape in the Palestinian Territories. From a very young age, people across society witness and experience various levels of violence and insecurity on a daily basis. Simple acts, such as going to school or work, can result in movement restrictions, arrest, or detention. While each person internalizes these painful experiences in individual ways, Palestinians also suffer from a communal trauma....

Case Study From Nova Scotia, Canada

For decades, the narrative in Canada’s Nova Scotia province has centered on concepts of economic sluggishness and a dwindling population base. This pervasive and unmotivating “we’re falling behind” story is built squarely on measures of economic growth, and on the assumption that growing the economy is what matters most. Lost in that formula, however, are qualities that make Nova Scotia a place its residents deeply value. Education levels are high in the province, as are measures for quality of life and community belonging. The region boasts abundant natural beauty. By many counts, Nova Scotia has already achieved the kind ...

Case Study From Bhutan

The term “Gross National Happiness” or GNH emerged in the 1970s, when journalists asked Bhutan’s Fourth King about his country’s gross national product. The young king’s reply, that “Gross National Happiness is more important than gross national product,” clearly articulated his vision that the happiness and well-being of the country, rather than simply its economic output, should be the focus of the country’s development....

The Stories the Numbers Do Not Tell

This chapter discusses the measurement of well-being in a Culture of Health. The aggregate numbers and standard measures typically used to measure progress—growth rates, unemployment figures, and stock market trends—mask the underlying crisis of social ill-being. In contrast, well-being metrics uncover the stories that these numbers do not tell. As such, incorporating measures of well-being to provide a more nuanced view of how people are doing; to inform policies to address serious pockets of ill-being and to enhance aggregate societal well-being; and to create a new narrative about social progress is a proposition whose time has come. Surveys are a standard data collection mechanism for well-being data, and there is now established best practice for implementing well-being surveys. A key consensus is on the importance of measuring three distinct dimensions of well-being: hedonic, evaluative, and eudaimonic. The chapter then describes hedonic metrics, evaluative metrics, and eudaimonic metrics. Ideal measurement practice includes all three sets of measures, as they each reveal different elements of quality of life and well-being, ranging from daily moods to life course evaluations to purposefulness or lack thereof.

Conclusion

This concluding chapter demonstrates how the well-being movement is gaining momentum and looks at the need and opportunity for further exploration and scaling. There are numerous examples from various countries where a well-being framework is catalyzing community and governmental action. There are significant challenges, but also opportunities to move from a set of experiments and time-limited innovations to sustainable changes across societies that improve well-being. This requires both urgency and long-term thinking; the work will advance through rapid experimentation and a commitment to generational change. And equity must be at the core of this change. The chapter then provides recommendations for policymakers and local and national leaders; news media; practitioners across sectors; and academics and researchers in economics, public health, and other fields.

Case Study From the United Kingdom

For most people, well-being is understood and experienced at a local scale. Their community or city is where housing, green spaces, social cohesion, mental health, and many other vital elements of well-being play out in daily life. Local governments and other stakeholders also tend to be the most willing and able to try innovative approaches. Local wins, in turn, inform and inspire action in other areas and often build to national change....

Capturing the Cultural Narratives of Well-Being

This chapter examines how a greater awareness of people’s lived experience can shape a more robust well-being narrative that offers policymakers greater insight into what matters to the good life of their rich and varied publics. Recent years have seen a number of initiatives and publications emerge to support a new kind of narrative on well-being. Among the most influential is a call for “fifth wave” thinking, which recognizes that existing, individually-focused, and biomedical approaches to health and well-being are no longer amenable to challenges of the current era, and a radically new approach that focuses on “a culture for health” and that seeks to engage with the full complexity of subjective, lived experience is needed to address contemporary problems, such as social inequality and loss of well-being. Narrative research methods can provide insight into people’s understandings of well-being, and their health and well-being-related experiences and lifestyle choices can locate this within their broader socio-cultural and historical context. The chapter then discusses the need to move away from individualized formulations of well-being, to approaches that recognize the value of relational well-being. It also considers assets-based approaches; the impact of social media on well-being narrative; and the establishment of accountability for well-being actions and narratives.

Well-Being as a Pathway to Equity

This chapter explores the relationship between well-being and equity, and makes the case for well-being approaches as a powerful pathway to advance equity. In a world without equity, well-being is impossible. Inequities in income, health, education, environmental conditions, access to opportunity, and other factors hinder individual, community, and civic well-being. Pursuing a well-being approach centered on equity—from what gets measured and how, to the way stories are told and the voices that tell them, to what gets prioritized and acted upon and by whom—can reduce these inequities. And in the symbiotic relationship between well-being and equity, as well-being improves, so does equity; likewise, as equity improves, so does well-being. The chapter addresses three intersecting components of well-being and equity: economic equity, human rights, and social cohesion. Through these lenses, it looks at implications and opportunities for social and policy change and illuminates work that remains to be done.

Afterword

This afterword presents a vision for well-being policies and actions in the United States, focusing on the experience of the City of Santa Monica, California. The purpose of data is to put it into action. The goal in Santa Monica is to make this a reality, with benefits accruing regularly to every resident, neighborhood, business, and contributor to the community. This was the idea behind Santa Monica’s local Wellbeing Index: harnessing the power of data for the commonwealth that would reveal the story of the people and the community in new ways, and that would help to transform city government. The goal of the Wellbeing Index was to expand the measures of a community far beyond the traditional and economically-focused gross domestic product (GDP). Going forward, the Wellbeing Index will be the tool used to evaluate whether policies, programs, and other City investments are in fact improving community well-being. The chapter also looks at Santa Monica’s programs, such as the Youth Wellbeing Report Card and the Pico Wellbeing Project.

Afterword

While the concept of well-being has long been of interest to scientists and health practitioners, it often fails to capture attention and resources in the way that disease and death do. The vast majority of health-oriented research focuses on identifying and mitigating problems to reduce disease burden rather than identifying and developing strategies to enhance well-being per se. Discussion and research presented in the current volume make the case for shifting the focus to well-being. However, if we truly want to place well-being at the center of efforts to define and understand population health, we will need a robust ...