Wellbeing Workshop 17 February 2012 – part of UCL Wellbeing Week 2012 organised by
UCL Grand Challenge of Human Wellbeing and UCL Crucible
Winning Project (awarded £10,000): Windows to Wellbeing
Bostock, Sophie (Epidemiology & Public Health)
Joffe, Helene (Psychology)
Pope, Matthew (Archaeology)
Teh, Tse-Hui (BartlettSchool of Planning)
Introduction
People’s sense of their wellbeing is related to positive feelings, such as happiness, life
satisfaction and achieving goals. A recent report by UNICEF found that the UK has the lowest
child wellbeing of all developed countries. For girls, in particular, life satisfaction and
happiness decline in the teenage years. For the aging population there is adecline in
wellbeing associated with the increasing prevalence of chronic disease. In addition, the
breakdown of the traditional family unit leads adults to be increasingly vulnerable to
loneliness not only in older age but across all life stages.
A growing academic research base identifies drivers of well-being, but it is not clear which
strategies are most effective for improving wellbeing at different ages and life stages. Times
of transition- such as beginning university or retiring –may provide windows of opportunity
during which stress can be reduced by the wellbeing of individuals and communities being
actively enhanced.
Aims
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To investigate whether a well-being intervention initiated at times of environmental
and cultural change, such as when starting university or retiring, can boost wellbeing
To identify which drivers of wellbeing are important at different life stages
To test whether inter-generational interaction can increase people’s sense of
wellbeing
Objectives
 To design an intervention, based on existing evidence as to what constitutes
wellbeing in the UK, to improve wellbeing
 To evaluate the impact of the intervention by way of both psychological and
biological markers
 To explore how inter-generational interaction can foster wellbeing, with a view to
devising a social networking site that has the fostering of inter-generational ties as
its aim
Method
The study will involve implementing a wellbeing intervention with new UCL under-graduate
students and staff about to retire. The intervention will impart the five ways to wellbeing:
giving, connecting, physical activity, mindfulness and continued learning, as laid out in a
survey of drivers of wellbeing in the UK (New Economic Foundation, 2009). Validated
psychological questionnaires will be used to assess subjective wellbeing. Biomarkers, such as
cortisol, will be used to give an indication of biological stress activation. Measures will be
taken at baseline and at two and six months after the intervention. Control groups in each
of the two generations will be used to quantitatively demonstrate the effects of the
intervention.
In addition to this quantitative study of individual wellbeing, the study will also induce intergenerational communication by pairing up the younger and older participants. Not only will
this form part of inducing ‘connecting’, it will also be used for the ‘giving’ and ‘continued
learning’ aspects in that the inter-generational pairs will be guided to collect life stories from
one another related to wellbeing, such as what has given them satisfaction in life. This
process will be evaluated qualitatively, as a route to gauging how an inter-generational
social networking site might be set up and used.
Duration and future direction
This study will last for a year. In addition to recruiting participants, running the study, taking
the measures at three time points and conducting a qualitative evaluation, the aim will be to
write a full research proposal for funding the most promising avenue of further research that
the initial study generates. We are particularly interested in establishing a different kind of
social networking site that fosters intergenerational wellbeing. It will put people from
different generations in touch and provide a forum for giving, connecting and learning
between them.