Indicators Of Community Well-being Research Articles

Towards a community-driven definition of community wellbeing: A qualitative study of residents.

Understanding what promotes or hinders a community's capacity to serve the priorities of its residents is essential for the alignment of citizen needs and governance. Participatory approaches that engage community residents on the topic of community wellbeing are useful methods for defining outcomes that reflect a community's goals and priorities. Using qualitative focus group methods, the aim of this study was to outline bottom-up definitions of community wellbeing from a diverse pool of community residents in Ontario, Canada. Semi-structured, two-hour group interviews were conducted with adult (≥18 years) participants (N = 15) residing in four communities across Canada's largest province of Ontario. Participants were purposively selected from a pool of screening questionnaires to ensure diverse group compositions based on race, gender, age, and educational attainment. Interviews were thematically analysed using descriptive and interpretive methods to characterize resident conceptions of community wellbeing. Focus group participants were between 18 and 75 years of age and most had lived in their local community for 5 or more years. Four major themes emerged: (1) a sense of community belonging is cultivated through shared spaces, routines, support, and identities; (2) a community constitutes the amenities and social contexts that enable residents to thrive; (3) effective regional decision-making must be community-informed; and (4) the wellbeing of a community relies on equal opportunities for engagement and participation. Residents described their communities and their associated wellbeing as a combination of accessible amenities and opportunities to engage without marginalization. This study underscores the value of participatory approaches in community wellbeing research, where the viewpoint and life experience of residents is used to inform local decision-making and service delivery. Future research will capture more diverse perspectives towards community belonging, particularly from community newcomers, for the development of regionally appropriate indicators of community wellbeing.

Sense of Place, Physical Activity, and Quality of Life as a Part of Community Well-being in Three European Community

The present study considers the measurement of quality of life as indicators of community well-being, which can be affected by the conditions of physical health, psychological, environment, and relationships of community residents. The purpose of this study was to test the perception of the residents of the community about the effect of the river and the satisfaction of the residents in different areas of life. This research was tested using a survey of 450 respondents from different communities in Europe. Participants completed measures of the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF questionnaire, Sense of place questionnaire, and author survey questionnaire about the type of Physical Activity. The results highlighted that all five domains of quality of life are strongly related to the length of time living by the river. Most of the participants stated that living by the river increases their self-confidence, security, and spirit of participation, which is directly related to enhancing the well-being and quality of life of citizens. According to the findings, the factor of security by the river is the most frequent. Participants who had lived near a river for more than 15 years were more likely to report greater physical activity, sense of place, and thus quality of life. In addition, several socio-demographic and basic factors related to the quality of life of the participants were also identified in this research.

A systematic review of planning policies for community wellbeing

ABSTRACT With more than half of the world’s population living in cities, a growing body of research is showing the role of urban environments in promoting the wellbeing of communities. This paper conducted a systematic review of 28 planning policy documents from 6 different countries. It explored how ‘community wellbeing’ is defined by local governments across the world and identified thirteen domains. Findings indicated that the scope of understanding of community wellbeing varies across different local governments, particularly in relation to the type of council (metropolitan and non-metropolitan). The position of policy within the broader local government strategic direction and the context-specific opportunities and challenges of local communities were also important to the definition of community wellbeing. Only about half of the policies we reviewed employed community wellbeing indicators, which play an important role in the research-practice transition and developing evidence-informed policies.

An Analysis of the Impact of Forest Policy on Rural Areas of Chile

The relationship between the forest sector and the well-being of people that depend on it for their economic livelihoods in rural areas is of strong interest in forest policy. In this sense, Chile has developed a forest policy that has had positive impacts, particularly on economic and productive aspects, but also negative impacts, such as the reduction of natural forest area, biodiversity, and provision of ecosystem services, as well as the increase in social conflicts and land abandonment. However, there are few studies that have evaluated the impacts of forest policy on rural population and development of the territory. Therefore, the objective of this research is to evaluate the impacts of Chilean forest policy on rural communities, particularly in terms of demographic variables and indicators of community well-being. The study area corresponds to the Bio Bio and Ñuble Regions (Chile), and the analysis includes productive, demographic, socioeconomic, and educational characteristics of population. The results show that the forestry policy implemented was able to generate a significant increase in the proportion of forest area. However, when this increase is mainly of the type of exotic forest plantations, it is associated with a demographic and socio-economic detriment of the population in some counties of the study area.

Challenging gender perspective in the community to promote well-being and health

The community is an excellent potential arena in which to challenge gender perspective and change power structures in society because of its pivotal role in socializing gender and shaping social context. The community influences the availability of positive and negative role models, the accessibility of specific settings, the ease with which relationships are formed, and a variety of emotions and attitudes. The literature shows that paying attention to gender equity affects numerous indicators of community well-being. Attention to gender equity makes communities more competent, which creates human and social capital that enables community well-being. We will examine the role of gender not only as a social construction but also as a context to create a healthy setting in the community and to promote the health and wellness of gender perspectives in the scientific domain, which seems resistant to change.

What Types of Indicators Should Be Used to Capture Community Well-Being Comprehensively?

There is a plethora of community well-being indicators. I will make an attempt to help the reader make sense of community indicators by discussing them in terms of several distinctions, namely (1) indicators based on theories of community well-being; (2) individual versus community well-being; (3) input versus output indicators; (4) indicators focusing on the community at large versus indicators focusing on vulnerable segments; and (5) indicators of well-being versus indicators of ill-being. Based on these distinctions, I propose that a comprehensive set of community well-being indicators has to: (a) be grounded in well-established theory, (b) include indicators capturing well-being of community residents as well as the community as a social system, (c) include both input (action) as well as output (outcome) indicators, (d) capture the well-being of vulnerable segments of society, and (e) capture both community well-being as well as ill-being.

2457 - The Holistic Intersection Rating System (HIRS: A Novel Methodology to Measure Intersection Performance

Background Urban roadway intersections are key components of urban transportation networks. They are traditionally viewed and designed as primarily motorized-traffic facilities thus their physical and operational designs aimed at maximizing traffic throughput. Seen from a systems’ viewpoint, however, they are transport and community facilities with direct and indirect impacts on traffic functionalities, public health and the livability of communities. Thus, an integrated physical and operational design approach is necessary to design and/or analyze those intersections. Methods This study proposes a new methodology for measuring intersection performance called the Holistic Intersection Rating System (HIRS). It is based on design and technology innovation to improve operations and foster public health and community well-being. HIRS will assess the intersection design and functionalities with respect to two main categories: enabling technologies and physical design aimed at the transport functionality, and physical design and operability aimed at public health and community well-being. In particular, HIRS examines transportation intersections as system components of the urban environment. It rates the physical features of the road and the different motorized and non-motorized traffic flow design and operation parameters that equitably optimize throughput and support desired public health and community well-being outcomes. The public health and community well-being outcomes HIRS rates relate to physical and mental health, community severance, and “completeness” of intersections. Results HIRS facilitates pedestrian and cyclists’ use of intersections so intersections serve the dual needs of meaningful travel and good health while improving drivers experience and neighborhood livability and quality of life. The HIRS index may be constructed using common intersection travel efficiency and public health and community well-being indicators or indicators. The indicators can be weighed using two methodologies: the Relative Importance Index (RII) and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The proposed system will be validated using an interdisciplinary industry panel of experts, and with empirical theoretical data runs. Conclusions Physical and operational design of roadway intersections, and the rating of sufficiency of such designs, are both necessary and possible for the well-functioning and use of urban transport systems and their users irrespective of modality. Tools that are dynamic and accommodating of changing designs and community values and priorities are necessary.

한국의 웰빙커뮤니티에 미치는 조건들의 결합 연구

The main purpose of this study has been to introduce the community well-being indicators developed and constructed by the Community Well-being Institute of Korea and to demonstrate specific configuration models explaining well-being communities in 27 local communities in Korea, in order to (1) portray the causal connections among factors affecting well-being communities and (2) to suggest policy implications by heeding which each local community can strengthen its level of community well-being. Following the requirements of the QCA model specification, we converted the actual value of each variable to a 1 and 0 score using the TOSMANA software program, produced a truth table, and derived the one configuration explaining well-being community in Korea.

Local Meanings of Wellbeing and the Construction of Wellbeing Indicators

There have been attempts to develop and employ tools for measuring development that shifted away from economic growth. In Thailand, a number of alternative indicators to measure the progress of development were created and employed. However, the indicators and measurements of development continued to be challenging, partly because of the dynamic changes of socio-economics, and partly due to the inconsistency between aggregated and local, or individual units of measurement. This paper aims to study meanings and develop wellbeing indicators of a community in the Northeast of Thailand. The data was derived from qualitative research conducted during 2013–2014. Focus group discussions with thirty-five formal and informal community leaders were used, and in-depth interviews were applied to collect data from thirty key informants. The results showed that the indicators of community wellbeing are classified into four groups, namely objective community wellbeing, community trust, community security, and community strength. The objective community wellbeing indicators were consistent with those that are used to guide policy and practice in Thailand. However, based on the local meaning of community wellbeing, new dimensions of indicators were found and proposed. This study recommended that these indicators should be developed further, to be employed as a tool to monitor progress, especially by local government.

Developing and using local community wellbeing indicators: Learning from the experience of Community Indicators Victoria

The recent upsurge of interest in local community wellbeing indicators in Australia and internationally reflects growing awareness of their importance as a platform for citizen engagement, community planning, and evidence based policy making. More broadly community wellbeing indicators are part of an international movement towards rethinking the ways in which political priorities are debated and in which progress and wellbeing are defined and measured. This article documents the establishment of Community Indicators Victoria (CIV), a local community wellbeing indicators initiative in Victoria, Australia. The article begins by locating the CIV initiative in the broad historical and international context of work on wellbeing, progress and sustainability indicators as well as the Australian and Victorian policy context. We then outline the steps involved in the establishment of CIV, critical partnerships and initial outcomes. We conclude with some reflections on lessons from the CIV experience to date and on future research and policy development priorities.

Community Wellbeing in an Unwell World: Trends, Challenges, and Possibilities

This essay explores the changing nature of the concept of community wellbeing and the richness of the concept for enhancing measurement of societal progress beyond the use of indicators focused more narrowly on economic growth. Beginning with the history of the concept of wellbeing in several disciplines, the authors pursue an integrated and ecological understanding of community wellbeing and present examples of recent developments and applications of community wellbeing indicators in international settings and in Australia.