International Journal of Wellbeing

Looking at wellbeing from all sides now: Supporting educators’ reflective wellbeing work through the application of a spatial metaphor

Andrew O'Shea — 2026-10-16

Wellbeing continues to be a highly contested term. In the context of increasing pressures on educators to teach about wellbeing, this paper revisits and develops our earlier work (O’Brien and O’Shea 2017). It explores rather what it might mean to teach for wellbeing while taking seriously some of its more perplexing challenges. Reflecting on the conceptual complexity and challenges of wellbeing and wellbeing education, it argues for a reframing of these challenges in education to embrace a variety of significant perspectives across disciplines and fields. To this extent it supports a disciplinary and interdisciplinary approach to wellbeing discourse. If wellbeing cuts across ethics, aesthetics, physical and mental health, economics, planetary and species survival, to name a few domains of relevance, it makes sense to employ a wider lens and deeper reflection. While identifying some of the main tensions across the wider discourse of wellbeing, we argue for a philosophical and a social science reframing that can stay attuned to the spatial-temporal conditions of our relational existence (Taylor 2018, Noddings 2012). In illustrating this method, we consider and critique some significant and influential ideas informing and framing psychological and sociological models of wellbeing in education. Subsequent to this analysis of the social scientific contributions, we consider how philosophical inquiry and understandings of meaning-making and subjectivity can address deeper questions of wellbecoming. We challenge the dominant discourse in education that maintains an overly positive account of human nature, one that assumes happiness and wellbeing are unproblematically desirable. We introduce a reflection on suffering and the negative aspects of human life, what we refer to as illbeing, as a necessary concept for thinking about wellbeing. Our findings suggest that it is not sufficient to merely outline the challenge of complexity in teaching about wellbeing but it is also necessary to know how to support students to find their own bearings in this new terrain. To this end we employ a spatial metaphor to address the one sidedness of the subject/object dualisms that characterise so much of the academic wellbeing discourse. It provides a new ethical orientation for students and teachers, a method for finding our bearings in uncertain and sometimes hazardous terrain, and perhaps a point of hope in a crisis of meaning.

Intertemporal analysis of well-being and its contributing factors: Cross-country evidence

Mohammad Rajib Hasan — 2026-07-02

Tracking well-being over time has the potential to shape public policies based on informed decision-making and reallocating scarce resources for balanced, sustainable and inclusive development. Using four waves of the World Values Survey (WVS) data between 1999 and 2022 for 48 countries, we estimate intertemporal changes in well-being and its contributing factors by using a multidimensional well-being index (MDWI). Our findings reveal that well-being has increased over time in most countries. We observe notable intra- and inter-country differences in the contribution of various domains to overall well-being. In general, the health domain contributes the most to well-being, followed by social capital, finance, safety, governance, science and technology, and religion. However, in the North American region, social capital is the highest contributing domain to overall well-being. Finally, five overarching policy implications are discussed that are expected to enhance the overall well-being of the countries under investigation.

The bidirectional relationship between innovation and well-being

Taura L. Barr — 2026-07-02

Background: Innovation and well-being are often treated as separate constructs; however, emerging evidence suggests a bidirectional relationship between them. Innovation supports creativity, problem-solving, and engagement, enhancing individual fulfillment and societal progress, while well-being provides the emotional, mental, and physical foundation necessary for risk-taking, adaptability, and sustained creativity.

Purpose: This conceptual paper presents a theoretical framework describing the dynamic relationship between innovation and well-being for healthcare professionals, educators, and organizational leaders. It examines how developing innovation competencies may strengthen well-being and, conversely, how well-being may enable individuals and teams to innovate more effectively.

Conceptual Framework: We map innovation competencies onto multidimensional well-being domains to demonstrate areas of overlap and mutual influence, and we propose (1) an innovation–well-being competency profile and (2) a bidirectional systems model illustrating cyclical, reinforcing pathways. The framework also identifies contextual, mediating, and moderating factors that may shape the strength and direction of innovation–well-being relationships.

Application: Embedding innovation competencies into curricula, fellowships, and workplace learning can prepare learners and clinicians to navigate uncertainty, address complex challenges, and build resilience, all while supporting professional sustainability and well-being. Practical examples from our healthcare innovation fellowship and organizational initiatives illustrate how integrating innovation development with well-being strategies may improve engagement, job satisfaction, and retention. Although grounded in healthcare, the framework is adaptable to other sectors (e.g., business and engineering education).

Implications: Positioning innovation and well-being as reciprocal capabilities offers educators, leaders, and policymakers a shared competency language for designing learning environments and workforce systems that support creativity, resilience, and sustainable performance.

Future Research: Future studies should test and refine the proposed pathways and profiles, examine mediators/moderators across settings and roles, and evaluate measurable outcomes of integrated innovation–well-being interventions in education and practice.

The nexus between social media use for wellbeing and use disorder: A clustering analysis and personas

Tourjana Islam Supti — 2026-07-02

This study employs clustering techniques to identify distinct social media user personas based on psychological traits and digital behaviors within UK and Arab samples. A total of 563 participants, 255 participants from the UK and 308 from the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) were analyzed using k-means clustering on seven key variables: Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Social Media Usage Frequency, Social Media Usage Competency, Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), Social Media Contribution to Social Wellbeing (SM Contribution to SWB), and Social Media Disorder (SMD). Three distinct clusters were identified in each sample: Engaged Digital Optimists, Anxious Social Connectors, and Selective Minimalists in the UK, and Digital Strategists, Digital Overdependent, and Hesitant Users in the Arab sample. The results highlight the inter-relations among personality traits, social media engagement patterns and digital wellbeing. Although the profiles in the Arab and UK samples were largely aligned, the differences highlighted cultural nuances in social media behaviors. These findings offer valuable insights for designing targeted interventions to promote positive social media use and enhance digital literacy.

Employee experiences of digital workplace well-being programmes: A qualitative meta-synthesis

Louise Cowpertwait — 2026-10-16

Abstract: This meta-synthesis sought to understand employee experiences of digital workplace well-being programmes to inform their future design, implementation, and research. Twenty-nine publications were identified by database searches (Scopus, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global). Five themes were developed: 'valuable', 'usability', 'shame and stigma', 'contextual factors', and 'inadequate and counterproductive'. Findings reflect the domains of the Technology Acceptance Model, and we suggest ways to enhance engagement in programmes. Given the low quality of existing primary studies, future research should focus on methodological rigour and transparent reporting of methodology.

Practitioner Points:

Digital well-being programmes are valued by employees for their usefulness, accessibility, and ability to support self-awareness.
Successful uptake depends on ease of use, as well as addressing barriers such as time constraints, perceived organisational support of use, and stigma.
Irrelevant content can reduce engagement and may even be counterproductive.
Employers can support engagement by providing employees with time and appropriate environments to use the programmes, and involving employees in programme selection to ensure relevance and fit.