2 Definitions of wellbeing
In the next activity, you will look at different formal definitions of wellbeing.
Take a look at the following definitions of wellbeing that come from various sources.
How we feel, how well were coping with daily life or what feels possible at the moments. Good mental wellbeing doesn’t mean that you’re always happy.
The state of being comfortable, healthy and happy.
Wellbeing can be understood as how people feel and how they function, both on a personal and social level, and how they evaluate their lives as a whole.
Wellbeing is not just the absence of ill health. It includes the way that people feel about themselves and their lives.
Activity 2 Definitions of wellbeing
Having read the definitions, answer the following questions.
1 What are the common themes that cut across these definitions? Make a note of at least two.
2 What are the differences between the definitions? Make a note of at least two.
Feedback
You may have noted that three of the definitions include a reference to how people feel, emphasising the subjective quality of wellbeing. Although happiness is mentioned in a few of the definitions, so is the cautionary note that wellbeing does not necessarily mean you are happy all the time. It is important to note that wellbeing is fluid and quite changeable and can be thought of as a feeling, or as one definition describes, a state.
A few of the definitions also focus on health, connecting to ideas about how wellbeing encompasses both physical and mental health. One of the definitions also draws out the social aspect of wellbeing, while another focuses on the connection between wellbeing and coping with life.
An important learning point from this activity is that definitions of wellbeing are not straightforward. There are many ways of defining wellbeing and people differ in their ideas. Despite this, there are common themes that run through the definitions suggesting that wellbeing, although not a concrete, definitive concept- does have some shared understandings about its nature. And more generally supporting wellbeing is often held up as a goal by people working with or providing services to children. As you will see later when we focus specifically on supporting children’s wellbeing it is possible to identify many different benefits from participation in creative activities.
In the next section, you will listen to children, young people, parents, carers and practitioners from a range of children’s services talk about wellbeing and what this term means to them.