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Towards a community-driven definition of community wellbeing: A qualitative study of residents
BACKGROUND: 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 defin...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10662708/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37988338 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294721 |
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author | Michalski, Camilla Ragunathan, Apira Foster, Adrian Pagalan, Lief Chu, Casey Diemert, Lori M. Helliwell, John F. Urajnik, Diana Speidel, Ruth Malti, Tina Fierheller, Dianne Fusca, Laura Zenlea, Ian McKean, Scott Rosella, Laura C. |
author_facet | Michalski, Camilla Ragunathan, Apira Foster, Adrian Pagalan, Lief Chu, Casey Diemert, Lori M. Helliwell, John F. Urajnik, Diana Speidel, Ruth Malti, Tina Fierheller, Dianne Fusca, Laura Zenlea, Ian McKean, Scott Rosella, Laura C. |
author_sort | Michalski, Camilla |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSIONS: 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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10662708 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-106627082023-11-21 Towards a community-driven definition of community wellbeing: A qualitative study of residents Michalski, Camilla Ragunathan, Apira Foster, Adrian Pagalan, Lief Chu, Casey Diemert, Lori M. Helliwell, John F. Urajnik, Diana Speidel, Ruth Malti, Tina Fierheller, Dianne Fusca, Laura Zenlea, Ian McKean, Scott Rosella, Laura C. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSIONS: 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. Public Library of Science 2023-11-21 /pmc/articles/PMC10662708/ /pubmed/37988338 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294721 Text en © 2023 Michalski et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Michalski, Camilla Ragunathan, Apira Foster, Adrian Pagalan, Lief Chu, Casey Diemert, Lori M. Helliwell, John F. Urajnik, Diana Speidel, Ruth Malti, Tina Fierheller, Dianne Fusca, Laura Zenlea, Ian McKean, Scott Rosella, Laura C. Towards a community-driven definition of community wellbeing: A qualitative study of residents |
title | Towards a community-driven definition of community wellbeing: A qualitative study of residents |
title_full | Towards a community-driven definition of community wellbeing: A qualitative study of residents |
title_fullStr | Towards a community-driven definition of community wellbeing: A qualitative study of residents |
title_full_unstemmed | Towards a community-driven definition of community wellbeing: A qualitative study of residents |
title_short | Towards a community-driven definition of community wellbeing: A qualitative study of residents |
title_sort | towards a community-driven definition of community wellbeing: a qualitative study of residents |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10662708/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37988338 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294721 |
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