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International Wellbeing Group



Introduction
Australian Unity Project
Membership List
Invitation to join
Index translations
Correspondence archive
2007 San Diego ISQOLS Conference

 

Introduction

Beginning in November 2001, an international collaborative network has gradually assembled with the aim of developing a brief, standard Index to measure population subjective wellbeing. The International Wellbeing Group currently involves researchers from a number of countries.

Each Researcher intends to trial the Index in their own country. Moreover, Group members are agreed that, to whatever extent possible, the same form of the Index will be used.

It is not, however, envisaged that the Index will remain unchanged over time. Instead, an initial iteration of the Index has been agreed, and a key concept underpinning this project is that it will undergo controlled evolution as theory and empirical data are brought to bear on its composition. To this end there is an active e-forum that discusses the composition of the Index as data are progressively collected and analyzed.

The Australian Unity Project

The origin of this project occurred early in 2001 when a contract was signed between Australian Unity, a financial services and healthcare company based in Melbourne, and the Australian Center on Quality of Life at Deakin University. This contract established a partnership with the aim of creating an index of perceived wellbeing for the Australian population. Under the terms of this agreement, general population surveys, each of 2,000 respondents selected on a demographically proportional basis, are conducted every six months. Copies of these reports are available on our Australian Unity Wellbeing Index page.

Under the terms of the contract, both parties own all data and there is no restriction on their use for scientific purposes. In addition, Australian Unity supports the Index being used and developed as a scientific tool. In this spirit they encourage investigations into the usefulness of the Index in other countries. The generic name for the index outside Australia is the International Wellbeing Index which involves two scales. A seven item Personal Wellbeing Index and a six item National Wellbeing Index. All items utilize a 0 - 10 end-defined scale of satisfaction.

Copies of the Index Core Items are available in

An invitation

As has been stated, the aim of the International Wellbeing Group is to develop an index of perceived wellbeing that is cross-culturally valid and reliable. The Group has agreed to use whatever version of the Index is current, and to let the evolutionary process guide future development. If you are planning to use the Index we invite you to join the Group as a Researcher. Should you wish to accept this invitation, please contact Bob Cummins.

Current Membership List

The International Wellbeing Group members exchange views on the development of the Index and other SWB matters via an e-Forum. The files below are a record of this correspondence.

2007 San Diego ISQOLS Conference

International Wellbeing Group

Anna and Bob

More Photos - all pdfs

Adrian's photos

Anna's photos

Habib's photos

People's names and faces key

 
Last Updated: 19 February 2008
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