Wellness: Participatory, Personalized, and Connected

Background and Purpose:

Wellness is an important construct and is foundational in efforts to improve health, wellbeing, and quality of life.  While a substantial body of research has been devoted to understanding experiences and perceptions of illness and disease, there is a dearth of attention to the meaning of wellness.   A more complete and holistic understanding of wellness would be a substantial contribution in our efforts to embrace a health paradigm that reflects health promotion and prevention. 

There has been increasing attention to the development of health promoting interventions for people with serious mental illness, both as a means of supporting the general wellbeing of this population and in hopes of addressing the disproportionate burden of physical health problems experienced by this group.  Accessing the voice of people who experience mental illness surrounding their subjective meaning of wellness would aid researchers and practitioners in developing and delivering these interventions in ways that are salient and meaningful for participants. 

Methods:

This study is a phenomenological inquiry, based on semi-structured qualitative interviews that were conducted with a convenience sample of twelve participants who self-report as experiencing severe and persistent mental health symptoms.  Participants were asked to discuss their experiences with wellness. Data from these face-to-face interviews were coded and analyzed inductively, first identifying groups of similar meaning units, from which broader themes were derived.  These themes were used to inform the ‘essence’ of the phenomenon for these participants (i.e. their experience of wellness).  Reflective journaling with bracketing and member checking were incorporated to enhance rigor.         

Findings:

Three important themes emerged from these interviews around the perceptions of wellness for these participants.  The themes included: wellness as an ability to engage and connect; wellness as a participatory process of building awareness; and wellness as a reflection of our intra/inter/extra ‘personal’ experiences.  Some participants indicated that they presently felt a (strong) sense of wellness; while others felt that wellness was more distant, either a reflection of some time in their past or an anticipated future.  The researcher was also struck by the high degree of vigilance that was described by participants to maintain a sense of wellness in their lives. 

Conclusion and Implications:

The findings suggest that wellness is a complex, multi-layered phenomenon for these participants.  All three themes reflected that wellness is a very dynamic concept that is intricately woven into participants’ lives; having important implications for their connection to the world around them, and their connection to themselves (how they saw themselves and their potential for change).  This study provides interesting insights into the elaborate relationship that these participants have with their perceived sense of health and wellness.  A better understanding of this relationship positions social workers to more effectively align ourselves with the ‘whole health’ needs of our clients and to promote health in ways that are more meaningful and relevant to those we serve.