Research Area
Yoga Well-being measurement and the WHO health policy
Research Title
Well-being measurement and the WHO health policy Health 2010: systematic review of measurement scales
Introduction
Subjective well-being (SWB) contributes to lifelong health and healthy aging; lack of SWB or impaired SWB can contribute to disease and mental disorders. SWB as a public health goal goes beyond traditional indicators of health, such as mortality, life expectancy at birth and infant mortality rate. European member-states agreed in 2013 on a single measure, life satisfaction, for tracking SWB in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) health policy framework, ‘Health 2020’.
Abstract
ubjective well-being (SWB) contributes to health and mental health. It is a major objective of the new World Health Organization health policy framework, ‘Health 2020’. Various approaches to defining and measuring well-being exist. We aimed to identify, map and analyse the contents of self-reported well-being measurement scales for use with individuals more than 15 years of age to help researchers and politicians choose appropriate measurement tools.
Conclusion
Well-being is a higher order construct. Measures seldom reported testing for gender or cultural sensitivity. The content and format of scales varied considerably. Effective monitoring and comparison of SWB over time and across geographic regions will require further work to refine definitions of SWB. We recommend concurrent evaluation of at least three self-reported SWB measurement scales, including evaluation for gender or cultural sensitivity.
