Wellbeing: the challenge of ‘operationalising’ an holistic concept within a reductionist public health programme:

Wellbeing is a concept that, while contested, recognises individual and wider social, economic, political and environmental contextual influences – and is of growing interest and relevance locally and globally. In this article, we report on one aspect of an evaluative research study conducted on a public health programme in North West England.Aims:Within the context of a process evaluation that explored the delivery of a public health programme and sought to increase understanding of how and why different approaches worked well or not so well, this article focuses specifically on the concept of wellbeing, examining perceptions of multiple stakeholders.Methods:Interviews and focus groups were undertaken with 52 stakeholders involved in managing and facilitating the programme and its composite projects and with 90 community members involved as project participants. Data were subjected to thematic analysis, cross-check and refining.Results:Results highlight stakeholders’ diverse understandings of wellbeing, ...