Wellbeing at work: theory, measurement and findings

This chapter describes the development of the “Wellbeing Process” model which is based on the Demands-Resources-Individual Effects (DRIVE) approach developed in stress and fatigue research. This model requires measurement of many variables, and this is often not practical with established questionnaires due to their length. In order to remove this problem, a short questionnaire (the Wellbeing Process Questionnaire, WPQ) was developed and validated. This enabled the wellbeing process to be evaluated and established predictors of positive and negative appraisals and outcomes defined. Results using this measuring instrument in a range of samples from different sectors will be described. More recent surveys have used the Smith Wellbeing questionnaire (SWELL), which includes more occupational variables, or the short version of this (Short SWELL). Results from studies using SWELL will be described and results from a sample from the manufacturing sector will be reported. There is little literature on the wellbeing of those in the manufacturing sector and the study reported here fills a gap in wellbeing at work literature. In conclusion, this article reports an approach which can progress our knowledge of wellbeing at work because it involves a strong theoretical base, validated measures and is in a form which reduces logistic issues often found in data collection