The Community
Wellbeing Index
“This collaboration highlights the value of the Co-op’s Community Wellbeing Index as a powerful tool to better understand and promote wellbeing”
Jose Marquez, Research Fellow and Professor Neil Humphrey at the University of Manchester
Research evidence points to a rise in the prevalence of mental health difficulties such as anxiety and depression among young people and a concurrent decline in wellbeing. As a result, adolescent wellbeing has become a key priority for researchers and policymakers, but little is known about neighbourhood-level influences. Co-op has recently partnered up with #BeeWell’s academic team from the University of Manchester in a study intended to learn more about how neighbourhoods influence adolescent wellbeing.
The #BeeWell project in Greater Manchester is a ground-breaking initiative that aims to measure and promote the wellbeing of young people in Greater Manchester. In 2021, more than 38,000 12-15 year olds took the #BeeWell survey. Their responses were linked to data on neighbourhood characteristics (e.g. access to education and health services, access to leisure facilities) using the Co-op’s Community Wellbeing Index (CWI).
The study focused on the links between neighbourhood characteristics in various domains (including 7 CWI domains: Education and Learning; Health; Economy, Work and Employment; Culture, Heritage and Leisure; Transport, Mobility and Connectivity; Housing, Space and Environment; Relationships and Trust; and Equality) and two wellbeing outcomes: life satisfaction and internalising symptoms.
The study found that neighbourhoods account for a small but significant proportion of the variance in adolescent wellbeing. Some neighbourhood characteristics (notably neighbourhood social capital) were associated with these outcomes. This included some of the Co-op’s CWI variables such as lower GP antidepressant prescription rates, better access to health services and better access to leisure facilities, all of which were associated with higher wellbeing.
The study also found that wellbeing varies across some groups, for example LGTBQ+ young people report lower wellbeing than non-LGBTQ+ peers, and that these inequalities differ across neighbourhoods.
The study provides some important lessons for future research and, importantly, some valuable insights for policymakers. This includes the need to improve access to health services and areas for leisure and to strengthen local support for young people.
Moreover, this collaboration highlights the value of the Co-op’s Community Wellbeing Index as a powerful tool to better understand and promote wellbeing. Importantly, it also demonstrates the potential benefits of considering young people’s views on the boundaries of their local area and finding out what neighbourhood characteristics are most salient to them. Such actions will help us to more fully understand the role of place as a determinant of young people’s wellbeing.
You can review Manchester university’s research here and discover more how the community wellbeing index helped evidence their findings
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