From Public Health to Wellbeing The New Driver for Policy and Action

by Walker, Paul; John, Marie

• ISBN13: 9780230278851
• ISBN10: 023027885X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-01-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Charting the history and evolution of the public health agenda, this insightful reader argues the place of wellbeing in local and national strategy. With contributions from academics and practitioners in the public, private sectors, it explores current thinking and policy within a range of settings, such as the NHS, the workplace and the community.

Author Biography

Paul Walker is a medically qualified public health specialist with more than forty years experience working for the National Health Service, local government and academe, latterly in Wales. Marie John was a senior Lecturer in Health Promotion and Health Education in the Division of Integrated Health and social Care, University of Glamorgan, UK, until her retirement in 2010. Her passion for keeping people well has led to a post with Health Promotion Wales.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	p. viii
Foreword	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. x
Notes on the Contributors	p. xi
List of Abbreviations	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xv
On Public Health and Wellbeing	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
The evolution of public health thinking and practice	p. 1
Current issues	p. 11
From public health to wellbeing: the path for progress	p. 16
Wellbeing: Meaning, Definition, Measurement and Application	p. 21
Origins and development of the concept of wellbeing	p. 21
Wellbeing in modern theological, philosophical, political, psychological and social policy discourse	p. 22
Wellbeing: what is our current understanding of the meaning of the word and the concept?	p. 24
Relationship to other similar measures	p. 25
Modern definitions	p. 26
Wellbeing as the underlying objective of all social policy	p. 28
The epidemiology of wellbeing	p. 28
Can we measure wellbeing?	p. 31
Established measures of wellbeing	p. 36
Evaluating policies, programmes and projects for wellbeing	p. 39
Appraisal and evaluation in central government: the Green Book	p. 40
Wellbeing as positive psychology/wellbeing promotion	p. 40
Conclusion	p. 42
Wellbeing: A Guiding Concept for Health Policy?	p. 47
Introduction	p. 47
Peering beneath the surface of health policy	p. 48
Wellbeing, politicians and managers	p. 49
Wellbeing and the professionals	p. 51
Wellbeing and citizens	p. 53
Devolution within the UK	p. 55
Conclusion	p. 56
Wellbeing and Spatial Planning	p. 58
Introduction	p. 58
Wellbeing and the physical environment	p. 59
Wellbeing, spatial planning and public health	p. 62
Wellbeing and improving performance	p. 66
Partnership in wellbeing and community planning	p. 67
Measuring sustainable wellbeing	p. 70
Wellbeing in new and expanded communities	p. 72
Conclusion	p. 75
Wellbeing and Children and Young People	p. 79
A brief history of childhood	p. 79
The increasing role of the state as protector and promoter of wellbeing	p. 81
Inequality, development and well-being	p. 82
Well-becoming: the legacy of child wellbeing for adult life	p. 84
Redefining the role of the state and family	p. 85
Defining and measuring wellbeing for children and young people	p. 86
Current public attitudes	p. 88
The evidence	p. 89
Factors that influence wellbeing	p. 90
Conclusion	p. 91
Wellbeing and Older People	p. 97
Definition of the older person	p. 97
Factors that affect the wellbeing of older people	p. 101
Conclusion	p. 110
Wellbeing and Work	p. 115
Introduction	p. 115
Setting the context of work: contemporary careers	p. 116
Current policy: the government response to the Black Report	p. 118
Improving health, happiness and wellbeing	p. 120
Unemployment	p. 121
Ageing workforce	p. 123
Conclusion	p. 124
Wellbeing and Community Action	p. 128
Engaging and developing communities	p. 128
Community wellbeing: subjective and objective wellbeing	p. 130
Individual capabilities	p. 132
Community engagement as a wellbeing intervention	p. 133
Case study: the Exploring Sustainable Wellbeing Toolkit	p. 135
Measuring subjective wellbeing within communities	p. 136
Implications for government policy: flip the paradigm	p. 139
Conclusion	p. 141
Partnership Working: The Lynchpin of Wellbeing	p. 144
Introduction	p. 144
Partnership in the public sector	p. 146
Social capital and asset-based community development	p. 147
Partnership working for health and wellbeing	p. 151
Drivers for partnership working	p. 155
Partnership and leadership	p. 157
Partnership in practice	p. 157
Conclusion	p. 158
Drugs Policy: A Case Study for Applying the Wellbeing Framework	p. 161
Introduction	p. 161
Why do we use drugs?	p. 164
Prohibition as a means of control	p. 166
Legislation that could improve the conditions and wellbeing of people who use drugs	p. 170
Reforming drug policy	p. 171
Wellbeing	p. 173
Conclusion	p. 175
A Greatest Wellbeing Principle: Its Time Has Come	p. 178
Perspectives on wellbeing: a synthesis	p. 178
Essential steps to progress	p. 180
A vision of the future	p. 183
A critique of wellbeing	p. 184
Afterword: is happiness the same as wellbeing?	p. 186
Index	p. 188
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