ACTIONS SUPPORTING WELLBEING

Actions supporting wellbeing (Responses) are anything that can be done to ease negative impacts or enhance positive impacts on our wellbeing resulting from pressures. These include actions taken to:

• improve the current state of wellbeing
• mitigate the negative impacts of pressures on wellbeing
• take advantage of opportunities arising from change.

Responses can be made by individuals, families, groups of people, organisations or governments. They can be both formal and informal.

The elements of 'Actions supporting wellbeing' are:

• aspiration or objective
• action
• impact.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER IN RELATION TO 'ACTIONS SUPPORTING WELLBEING':

• What aspirations or objectives are there for the future?
• What actions are needed to achieve this?
• What actions are most likely to have the desired impact?
• How will each action directly and indirectly support wellbeing?
• Will the action create new pressures? Will they have the desired impact?
• Will the actions involve trade-offs and synergies?
• How well does the action support the aspirations or objectives?

THE ELEMENTS OF 'ACTIONS SUPPORTING WELLBEING'

Each element of 'Actions supporting wellbeing' can be viewed from a number of perspectives. To illustrate this, a few examples of concepts related to each element are provided - from an individual, a societal and system perspective. Examples of related measurement areas are also provided.

These examples are intended to prompt thinking about the elements and provide a link between the abstract concepts and the measurement of such concepts. They are not a proposal of 'wellbeing indicators'. When developing a set of indicators each underlying concept should be considered critically, debated, and refined in relation to the particular context and circumstances.

Aspiration or objective

In order to undertake responses to maintain or improve wellbeing, the objectives or aspirations that the responses are intended to achieve need to be determined first.

What I can do

Consider what I want from life and my aspirations for the future. Some of these may be short term, while others are long term. Some of my desires and aspirations may contradict others. They may change over time. I may choose to make sacrifices or trade-offs now in return for higher expected wellbeing in the future. Or I may prefer a higher level of current wellbeing and to worry about the future later.

What we can do

Our collective aspirations for societal progress can shape the future. We desire good health, better living conditions and improved quality of life for our families and communities. We may also work towards goals that result in mutual benefits.

What the system can do

Effective engagement and an understanding of the aspirations of people enables governments, community organisations and other governance systems to determine priority areas of action and undertake organised work towards our collective aspirations for societal progress. This can motivate us to create systems that support our aspirations.

In a national consultation conducted by the ABS in 2011-12, Australians expressed aspirations for good outcomes related to:

• health
• learning and knowledge
• home
• close relationships
• community connections
• work
• equity
• culture and leisure
• safety
• economic wellbeing
• the environment
• governance.

Measurement areas

Areas we can measure to inform about the aspiration or objective include:

• information on future life intentions (e.g. retirement intentions)
• aims of undertaking training
• hours wanted to work
• ideal family size, desire to have (more) children
• qualitative information on goals and aspirations.

Action

Once the aspiration or objective has been determined, actions (or responses) are needed to achieve the aspiration or objective.

What I can do

Some actions have to be made by me, though family, friends and society can have a big influence on the actions I take. Some personal actions are related to:

• developing my skills and knowledge
• taking up new hobbies
• building new relationships
• building personal resilience and coping strategies
• changing attitudes
• changing health behaviours - diet, personal care, smoking or exercise
• work to build up my savings and other aspects of my wealth.

What we can do

There are a wide range of actions that occur within society on a daily basis between: family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, organisations and groups, people in general and acquaintances. These include actions to:

• provide support, care, encouragement and assistance in times of need
• share skills, information and knowledge
• share networks
• taking action with others to solve local problems
• influence the actions of others
• resolve conflict
• apply sanctions to undesirable behaviours. (ABS, 2004)

What the system can do

System actions are formal or coordinated responses. These include:

• institutional responses by the health care, education and welfare systems
• information and communication technology (ICT) service provision
• regulatory responses.

It also includes highly organised networks of support and care supplied by groups and organisations such as charitable bodies, clubs, community associations, support groups and businesses.

The system can work towards our aspirations for societal progress. For example:

• provide support services to those in need
• support social inclusion
• encourage common action in the community - organising people to come together for action
• sharing knowledge, information and introductions
• conflict resolution and dealing with local problems
• applying sanctions through formal mechanisms including laws
• improve policies and programs
• improve laws
• the ratification and adoption of principles for society
• commitments to improving the wellbeing of society.

Policy instruments available to governments include:

• economic instruments (e.g., taxes, subsidies, tradable permits, etc.)
• regulatory (e.g., laws and regulations)
• direct expenditure (research and development, education and awareness, infrastructure projects, etc.)
• institutional instruments (sector and cross-sector strategies, green procurement). (UNEP, IEA Training Manual)

Measurement areas

Areas we can measure to inform about the action include:

• skills and knowledge
• care and voluntary work
• existence of emergency response strategies
• indicators of capacity and capability building, surge capacity
• assess policies, programs and other activities (process indicators and outcome indicators)
• research on current state of wellbeing and causal relationships
• change in health behaviours
• savings/wealth generation
• support services provided.

Impact

What I can do

Examine my actions (responses) and their impacts on satisfaction with my life.

What we can do

Evaluate how effective our informal actions were in achieving the desired aspiration or objective.

What the system can do

Evaluate the progress achieved towards our societal aspirations through system actions and how effective different actions were (including how effective the systems and processes are).

Measurement areas

Areas we can measure to inform about the impact include:

• changes to wellbeing status over time (analysis may show association with actions)
• understanding the relationship between actions, outcomes and impact
• assessment of the effectiveness of actions and the process undertaken
• functioning of systems
• efficiency, responsiveness, coordination
• externalities created.
  
  

REFERENCES

Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2004, Information Paper: Measuring Social Capital - An Australian Framework and Indicators (cat. no. 1378.0)

United Nations Environment Programme, Integrated Environmental Assessment: IEA Training Manual (Module 5), p51, accessed 29/05/2015