(Sandwell Model of Holistic Wellbeing has been adapted and developed from Hird model (2003) and follows the same basic principles.)

This diagram illustrates the multifaceted nature of wellbeing, which consists of three strands – subjective, objective and psychological wellbeing.  Each of the strands must be seen on a continuum, ranging from positive experience of that dimension to a negative.  All three work together to contribute to each individual’s experience of their overall wellbeing.  The model illustrates that where all three dimensions come together (in the middle of the diagram), we obtain the ‘ideal’ or the fully positive experience of wellbeing. 

Objective Wellbeing

Objective wellbeing covers six areas of an individual’s life: physical, material or economic, social, emotional, developmental, and spiritual.  This dimension is called objective, because it is possible to externally measure and assess the level of ‘wellbeing’ for each category. As a basic illustration, a GP can assess whether an individual is physically well by doing blood tests, taking blood pressure etc.;  a person’s economic wellbeing can be assessed by the amount of money they earn, how much debt they are in, their housing situation, etc.   On a wider scale, surveys such as the census can provide a reasonable assessment of the level of objective wellbeing for the whole of the UK – which can then be broken down to local areas.

Psychological wellbeing

The term psychological wellbeing is used here to illustrate the ‘mental illness’ spectrum.  This dimension can be measured by professionals (such as psychiatrists) using standardised assessments which determine whether a person has a mental illness or not.   Nationally, surveys such as the psychiatric morbidity survey contribute to measuring this aspect of wellbeing.

Subjective Wellbeing

Subjective wellbeing is a wholly personal assessment of one’s own wellbeing.  Happiness, sense of achievement, connectedness to others and/or something higher (i.e. God, universe etc.), life satisfaction, all fall within this category.  There have been a few attempts to develop measures that may be able to capture and measure this dimension of wellbeing, including WEMWBS and Affectometer.   In the UK, Scotland has been the first area to attempt to capture the subjective wellbeing on a grand scale, and results are still awaited.

Holistic Wellbeing

Holistic wellbeing is the ideal, or the most positive level of wellbeing a person can achieve.  It is the coming together of all the other dimensions in their most positive forms.  It illustrates the ultimate possibility of what an individual, or a society could achieve if everybody’s needs were fully met.   Each of the other three dimensions already mentioned are fully independent of each other.  For example, an individual could have material wealth, be physically healthy, have supportive social networks, be psychologically well, and yet, if asked, they may not feel happy at all.  As another example, a person could have a diagnosis of a mental health problem, be very disadvantaged on an economic level, but yet, could feel very happy in themselves.

However, to achieve ‘holistic wellbeing’ all three dimensions must be as near to their positive spectrums as possible and must work together to maintain that level of wellbeing.  In terms of health promotion, the model illustrates perfectly how different areas of health promotion must work together to help people come as close as possible to that ultimate goal of wellbeing on all levels.  Research over the years has confirmed how much each different aspect of wellbeing affects the level of the other.