We live in a world currently faced by unprecedented social and environmental changes (WEF, 2017). In the face of such rapid change, it is becoming difficult to understand what population wellbeing might mean as well as the indicators that capture its essence. Since the post-war era, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been widely used as an indicator of population wellbeing (Potter et al. 2012). However, in recent times, population wellbeing or how people are doing and their progress is increasingly seen as more than merely the value of economic activity undertaken within a given period of time. In response to the growing discontent with the use of economic measures to reflect societal progress and population wellbeing, there has been a global momentum to develop and encourage the use of community-level indicators of wellbeing (Michalos, 2011; Davern et al., 2017). These initiatives aim to increase public understanding of wellbeing and ideas of the 'good life' beyond traditional economic measures. Despite the relevance of these alternative measures for practical and policy purposes, their application remains limited in low to middle-income countries (LMICs), especially sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The limited usage is due to the narrow focus of current measures and their inability to adequately capture what wellbeing means in the SSA context. Also of critical importance is whether the constituents of these 'Beyond GDP' measures represent what really matters to people in their specific contexts and captures the collective, contextual and compositional attributes that shape wellbeing of places in low to middle-income countries. This thesis explores the meaning of wellbeing, with emphasis on the role of inequality as a key contributor to the wellbeing of places in low to middle-income countries (LMICs), using Ghana as a case study. The research focused on three broad objectives: first, to develop an integrated framework for understanding links between inequality and wellbeing in LMICs; second, to explore lived experiences, perceptions and understanding of wellbeing and its indicators in LMICs and finally, to explore the potential pathways that link inequalities, and wellbeing in the context of LMICs. A mixed-method approach involving a conceptual review, key informants interviews, focus group discussions and a survey were used in the research. The conceptual review suggests that the role of place and inequality in wellbeing research is inadequately conceptualized and inequality as a key attribute of the wellbeing of places in LMICs is not given adequate attention. The review thus suggested that an integrated framework will enable researchers to adequately conceptualize inequality and wellbeing. It further shows that inequality affects wellbeing through multiple pathways. First, inequality may lead to poor wellbeing through status anxiety- the psychosocial response of individuals or societies to the perception of their place in the status ladder. Secondly, the 'social facts' of communities and societies like inequalities may have long-lasting impacts on social cohesion and community vitality. This is especially important in the context of LMICs where communities, and not individuals, mostly serve as the units of identification and development. Thirdly, inequality is detrimental to population wellbeing in LMICs through the differential accumulation of exposures and experiences that have their sources in the material world, which weakens societies' willingness to make investments that promote the common good. Results from the key informants and focus group discussions revealed similarities as well as context-specific descriptions or definitions of wellbeing across Ghana. Description of wellbeing consists of an embodiment of both material and non-material circumstances. The descriptions or definitions that people ascribe to wellbeing were complex and context dependent. Perceptions of the relative importance of indicators differed depending on sex, gender, and location. Further, findings from the survey (n=1036) reveal that inequalities affect wellbeing by constraining access to basic amenities like water, food, and housing and also through its effects on community social capital and cohesion. This research makes important contributions to knowledge, policy, and practice. Theoretically, the research links capability framework with an ecosocial theory to demonstrate the multidimensional nature of wellbeing by revealing the contextual influences that simultaneously facilitate and constrain optimum experience of wellbeing. The framework outlined is a useful tool for exploring how structural forces at different scales interact to shape population patterns of wellbeing in low to middle-income countries. The framework is beneficial as it enables researchers to connect interactions between environmental risks and (re)actions with broader socio-economic factors to understand wellbeing inequalities and how populations literally embody inequalities. Moreover, the framework can be applied to the embodiment of other risks (e.g., water/air pollution) within similar (or different) contexts. Methodologically, the research contributes to the conceptualization and measurement of wellbeing in a cross-cultural context and expands health geographers' substantive focus to include population wellbeing. The research also provides an effective example of an embedded mixed-method design by highlighting the strengths of mixing quantitative methods with other research methods such as focus group discussions and key informants interviews in order to gain a nuanced understanding of wellbeing. In terms of policy, the research highlights to adopt wellbeing as the central focus of policy interventions. It also highlights the need for policies to respect community perspectives and experiences in identifying what matters to forge a common understanding not only of wellbeing but also what is fair and just.

This is a study about perceptions of well-being. Its purpose is to investigate how these perceptions are organized in the minds of different groups of American adults, to find valid and efficient ways of measuring these percep tions, to suggest ways these measurement methods could be implemented to yield a series of social indicators, and to provide some initial readings on these indicators; i.e., some information about the levels of well-being perceived by Americans. The findings are based on data from more than five thousand Americans and include results from four separate representative samplings of the American population. One of the ways our research is unusual is that it includes a major methodological component. Typical surveys involve a modest effort at instru ment development, the application of the instrument to a group of respondents, and an analysis of the resulting data that mainly describes the people studied. Our work, however, was implemented in a series of sequential cycles, each of which consisted of conceptual development, instrument design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Ideas and findings generated in prior cycles affected the design of subsequent cycles.

Subjective well-being refers to how people experience and evaluate their lives and specific domains and activities in their lives. This information has already proven valuable to researchers, who have produced insights about the emotional states and experiences of people belonging to different groups, engaged in different activities, at different points in the life course, and involved in different family and community structures. Research has also revealed relationships between people's self-reported, subjectively assessed states and their behavior and decisions. Research on subjective well-being has been ongoing for decades, providing new information about the human condition. During the past decade, interest in the topic among policy makers, national statistical offices, academic researchers, the media, and the public has increased markedly because of its potential for shedding light on the economic, social, and health conditions of populations and for informing policy decisions across these domains. Subjective Well-Being: Measuring Happiness, Suffering, and Other Dimensions of Experience explores the use of this measure in population surveys. This report reviews the current state of research and evaluates methods for the measurement. In this report, a range of potential experienced well-being data applications are cited, from cost-benefit studies of health care delivery to commuting and transportation planning, environmental valuation, and outdoor recreation resource monitoring, and even to assessment of end-of-life treatment options. Subjective Well-Being finds that, whether used to assess the consequence of people's situations and policies that might affect them or to explore determinants of outcomes, contextual and covariate data are needed alongside the subjective well-being measures. This report offers guidance about adopting subjective well-being measures in official government surveys to inform social and economic policies and considers whether research has advanced to a point which warrants the federal government collecting data that allow aspects of the population's subjective well-being to be tracked and associated with changing conditions.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

What is national wellbeing and what is progress? Why measure these definitions? Why are measures beyond economic performance needed and how will they be used? How do we measure national wellbeing & turn the definitions into observable quantities? Where are we now and where to next? These questions are asked and answered in this much needed, timely book. The Wellbeing of Nations provides an accessible and comprehensive overview of the measurement of national well-being, examining whether national wellbeing is more than the sum of the wellbeing of everyone in the country, and identifying and reviewing requirements for new measures. It begins with definitions, describes how to operationalize those definitions, and takes a critical look at the uses to which such measures are to be put. The authors examine initiatives from around the world, using the UK ‘measuring national wellbeing programme’ as a case study throughout the book, along with case studies drawn from other countries, as well as discussion of the position in some countries not yet drawn into the national wellbeing scene.

In the realm of health care, privacy protections are needed to preserve patients' dignity and prevent possible harms. Ten years ago, to address these concerns as well as set guidelines for ethical health research, Congress called for a set of federal standards now known as the HIPAA Privacy Rule. In its 2009 report, Beyond the HIPAA Privacy Rule: Enhancing Privacy, Improving Health Through Research, the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Health Research and the Privacy of Health Information concludes that the HIPAA Privacy Rule does not protect privacy as well as it should, and that it impedes important health research.

" This is the first research-based book to confront workplace issues facing nurses who have disabilities. It not only examines in depth their experiences, roadblocks to successful employment, and misperceptions surrounding them, but also provides viable solutions for creating positive attitudes towards them and a welcoming work environment that fosters hiring and retention. From the perspectives and actual voices of nurses with disabilities, nurse leaders, nurse administrators, and patients, the book identifies nurses with disabilities (including sensory, musculoskeletal, emotional, and mental health issues), discusses why they choose to leave nursing or hide their disabilities, and analyzes how their disabilities may influence career choices. "