Transcript WELL-BEING AND QOL

WELLBEING AND QOL
W4
Learning outcomes
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• Describe the meaning of
well being
• Explain the relationship
between well-being and
quality of life
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Three Pillars of Sustainable Development
Social
Wellbeing
Economic
Wellbeing
Environmental
Wellbeing
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What is wellbeing?
 In
general term well –being means a
contented state of being happy and healthy
and prosperous.
 It
is also synonymous to happiness
 It
is used for individual being and social
systems
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Concept of Wellbeing

An ambiguous concept, lacking a
universally acceptable definition and
often faced with competing
interpretations.

Wellbeing is a notion that people and
policymakers generally aspire to improve.
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Definition of wellbeing
 Wellbeing
is generally viewed as a
description of the state of people’s life
situation (McGillivray 2007, p. 3).
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Measurement of Wellbeing
Objective Measure
• Income
• GDP
Subjective measure
• Personal measure
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OBJECTIVE MEASURE OF WELLBEING
OBSERVABLE HARD FACTS AND
FIGURE
Economic data – income in RM
 Social data-living space in square meters.
 Environmental data- percentage of clean river
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OBJECTIVE MEASURE
One dimension
Material wellbeing measured by income or
GDP.
 The link between income and wellbeing
rests on the assumption that income
allows increases in consumption and
consumption increases utility (preferences
in meeting desires and wants).

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OBJECTIVE MEASURE
Multi Dimensional
GDP does not capture all the aspects of human life.
 Wellbeing encompasses broader dimensions such as
social and environmental aspects, and human rights.
 Since the 1970s many non-economic indicators have
been created to complement GDP.
 Indicators in areas such as education, health and
nutrition, environment and empowerment and
participation have been elaborated to complement
GDP.

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OBJECTIVE MEASURE
Wellbeing Index



Composite measures that would capture the
multidimensional aspect of wellbeing.
Constructed using different components, weighted in some
way to form a single index.
Examples:
1) Human Development Index (HDI) (1990) combining
income per capita, life expectancy at birth, adult literacy and
education enrollment ratios.
2) Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) (1979) combined
infant mortality, life expectancy and adult literacy
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Subjective wellbeing
Subjective measures ‘soft’ matters such as
self reported happiness and life
satisfaction, satisfaction with income and
perceived adequacy of dwelling.
 Some economists use the phrase
“subjective wellbeing” as a synonym for
“happiness” but in psychology, happiness
is a narrower concept than
SWB.

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Definition of SWB

Veenhoven (1984) defines subjective
wellbeing as a degree to which an
individual judges the overall quality of
her/his life as a whole in a favourable way.

McGillivray and Clarke (2006, p. 4) state
that “subjective wellbeing involves a
multidimensional evaluation of life, including
cognitive judgments of life satisfaction and
affective evaluations of emotions and moods.”
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SWB
Indicate a
person’s level
of happiness
Happiness
+
individuals’ perceived
distance from their
aspirations
Life
satisfaction
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Measures of Happiness
Self reported level of
happiness
Rating of the level of
happiness
Objectively using brain
wave measure
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Example of Dimensions of Happiness Measure
Happiness is defined as the degree to which an
individual judges the overall quality of her/his life as-awhole favorably.
Four main dimensions:
Satisfaction
of Needs
Self
Actualization
Possession
Happiness
Comparing
Past
Experiences
ENVIS Centre on Human Settlement- Department Of Environmental Planning, SPA, New Delhi
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Why QOL?
QOL emerged and discussed for 3 concerns:
1. The feeling on the part of modern industrial society, despite
impressive gains in affluence, ease of communication and
leisure, has not made any significant overall progress in
improving man’s lot. Mankind prospect is less attractive than
they were 25 years ago.
2. The desire for an index of social well-being analogous to
measures of economic wellbeing. This measurement can
provide for purposes of government decision-making and
intellectual interest to measure social progress.
3. Understanding, measurement, improvement of human
experiences have been the major goals of individual,
community and government.
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General meaning of QOL

QOL represent either how well human
needs are met or the extent to which
individuals or group perceived satisfaction
or dissatisfaction in various life domains.
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Method of measurement
1.Use quantifiable, objective measure of
social/ or economic indicators to reflect
the extent to which human needs are
met;
2. Self reported levels of happiness,
pleasure, fulfillment and alike which is
termed well-being.
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Objective Measure

Center on economic, social, health and
environmental indicators.
Economic- income, poverty level
Social- unemployment rate, accident rate at
workplace
Health- life expectancy, doctor population
ratio
Environment- water quality, air quality
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Subjective Measure

Typically focus on personal reports of life
experiences that complement social,
economic and health indicators.

QOL is primarily a subjective sense of
well-being, a proxy used for QOL
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Issues with Subjective Measure
1.
People judge their well-being in
comparison with peer groups than in
absolute terms
2.
Influence of cultural and religious norms
3.
May be bound by time, sociodemographic factors etc.
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Integrative definition of QOL

A more complete picture of QOL at
multiple spatial (space/places) and
temporal ( time) scale.

Both objective and subjective measures
independently has some limitations.

A combined approach of subjective and
objective measures of QOL is proposed.
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Integrative Definition of QOL
QOL is the extent to which objective
human needs are fulfilled in relation to
personal or group perceptions of
subjective well-being (SWB).
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Human Needs
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SWB
SWB is individual’s or groups’ responses
to questions regarding happiness, life
satisfaction, utility or welfare.
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Relationship between variables

The relation between specific human
needs and perceived satisfaction with
each of them is affected by mental
capacity, cultural context, information,
education, temperament etc in a complex
manner.
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Relationship between variables

The relation between fulfillment of those
needs and overall subjective well-being is
affected by weightage/importance
individuals, groups and culture give to
fulfilling of each of those needs relative to
others.
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QUALITY OF LIFE
OPPOTUNITIES
to meet human
needs
How needs
are met
HUMAN NEEDS
Subsistence
Reproduction
Security
Affection
Understanding
Participation
Leisure
Creativity
Identity
Freedom
How need fulfillment
is perceived
SUBJECTIVE
WELL-BEING
Happiness,
Utility
Welfare
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Opportunities
The ability to satisfy basic human needs
come from the opportunities available
and constructed from social, built, human
and natural capital.
Policy and culture help allocate the four
types of capital as a means of providing
these opportunities
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Types of Capital
1.
2.
3.
4.
Social capital- network and norms that
facilitate cooperative actions
Human capital –knowledge and information
stored in our brain and our labour
Built capital- manufactured goods and
services such as tools, equipment, building
Natural capital- renewable and non
renewable good and services provided by
ecosystem
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Examples of Indicators for measuring needs at individual
and national scales
Need
Individual Scale
National Scale
Subsistance
Self reports on calorie
intake, access to clean
water, air, health care
National data on:
calorie deficiencies;
Affection
Self report on level of
attachment to others
National data on
suicide, homicide
Leisure
Self report on time
use, activities pursued
and money spent
National data on time
use, money spent and
activities involved
Security
Self report on who
provide care in case of
illnesses, care for
elderly
National data on
nursing home,
multigenerational
household
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Conclusion

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The concept of QOL has been
conceptualised differently by different QOL
researchers.
QOL concept can be viewed by these
theoretical perspectives:
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Ideal theories
Personal utility theories
QOL as happiness versus life satisfaction
Opulence theories
Theories of the just society
The needs approach
The social judgment approach
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Framework for measuring QOL
Some international frameworks and methodology have
set the foundation for QOL indicator research.
• United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, 1948
• Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements, 1976
• Habitat Agenda- Istanbul Declaration on Human
Settlements, 1996
• Declaration on Cities and Other Human Settlements
in the New Millennium, 2001
• Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 2001
• State of the World’s Cities 2008/2009- “Harmonious
Cities”
• United Nations Human Development Index
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