What is a wellbeing framework?

A wellbeing framework is, technically, a way of structuring how you understand, measure and track change in wellbeing and the factors that influence it, for a specific region or population. The region or population focused on can range from a small rural community to a large nation, or from school students to people working in agriculture, to name a few examples.

A wellbeing framework provides a shared understanding  of what influences the wellbeing of a particular group of people or community, can help identify goals for wellbeing, and develops an evidence base on how that is changing.

How do you develop a wellbeing framework?

Developing a framework is described in more detail on our Developing a wellbeing framework page. Developing a framework typically involves a process in which community members and experts work collaboratively to identify what is important to wellbeing in their community, organise these factors into a framework that uses local language and understanding, select and measure indicators, and identify how to use the information to inform and support local decision making processes. The Hub provides information to help you with each step.

Why develop a wellbeing framework?

Communities are often asked to do a lot of reporting. So why add a wellbeing framework into the mix? We asked regional communities who were developing framework what their ‘why’ was. Here are the reasons they had for investing time and effort into a wellbeing framework:

• A clear evidence base: Many had experienced difficulty providing evidence to support the need for investment in an area of wellbeing. While they knew there was a need, they didn’t have data to back up that qualitative knowledge. Having a framework can provide a consistent evidence base you can use to support arguments for change.
• Monitoring outcomes: Rural communities invest in the wellbeing of their residents every day. However, it’s often hard to identify if the investment made in a particular action helped support wellbeing. Wellbeing frameworks can provide a way of tracking whether investments are achieving change in wellbeing, or in determinants of wellbeing.
• Shared understanding: Collaboratively developing a framework helps establish a shared understanding of what matters for local wellbeing – and of how those things are changing. This can help build momentum for action to address wellbeing challenges, through ensuring more people in the community are aware of problems and motivated to support action.
• Guiding decision making: It’s often hard to decide where limited funds and time can best be invested to support wellbeing. Having a wellbeing framework provides an evidence base that can help inform these hard decisions, and ensure funds and effort are invested where they can make the most difference.

How do wellbeing frameworks link to decision making?

The short answer to this question is that not all wellbeing frameworks have links to decision making processes. Some frameworks are simply designed to monitor wellbeing and report findings. These frameworks are often designed to be accessible publicly, so that they can be used by any organisation that wants access to evidence to support its decision making processes. These organisations can include governments, private business, not-for-profit organisations, and community groups, to name a few.

Other wellbeing frameworks are design to support specific decision making processes, such as budget allocations of a government, or the policy goals of a community organisation. These are more likely to set specific objectives, and aspirations, and to communicate these as part of the framework. They may also include commitments to using data from the framework to support specific decision making processes of the organisation.

Is a wellbeing framework the same thing as a wellbeing data dashboard?

No. Data dashboards are a way of reporting the data produced as part of monitoring wellbeing. This means a data dashboard may be produced as part of wellbeing frameworks, but is not a wellbeing framework in and of itself. Typically, a framework is produced first which identifies the domains and indicators that are important to the wellbeing of a community or group. A data dashboard, or other ways of reporting data, are then developed to provide a way of reporting on wellbeing monitoring, using the indicators that form part of the framework. The framework will provide an overall explanation of the factors considered important to wellbeing in the community, and why particular indicators are being monitored. The dashboard (or other ways of reporting data) then provide data on how wellbeing is changing in the community. In addition to data dashboards, data from indicators can be reported in many other ways, including websites, reports, billboards, posters, newspapers and newsletters, amongst others.

How do you go about developing a wellbeing framework?

To find out more about developing a wellbeing framework, go to Developing a regional framework, where you can access the Regional Wellbeing Framework Community Toolkit, as well as links to other resources on developing frameworks.