WHALE Arts Making and Sharing For Better Wellbeing - Report 2020

MAKING & SHARING FOR BETTER WELLBEING Making

&

Sharing

for

Better

Wellbeing

was

funded

by

The

Bupa

UK

Foundation and delivered by WHALE Arts. Two groups, Let's Create and Men's

Makers

provided

making

and

sharing

activities

for

participants

with the aim of improving mental health and wellbeing.

We used a range of impact measures and collected both qualitative and quantitative

data.

This

brief

report

used and the results achieved.

explores

the

impact

measures

we

IMPACT MEASURES

To

measure

wellbeing

combined

three

Edinburgh

Mental

we

designed

well-known Wellbeing

impact Scale,

a

one-page measures:

The

ONS

questionnaire The

Short

Subjective

which

Warwick Wellbeing

Questions and The Social Trust Question.

Each of the impact measures has been designed to measure a different aspect of wellbeing and we felt the combination the three would give us

a

broader

picture

of

engaged with the project.

our

participants

overall

wellbeing

as

they

THE SHORT WARWICK EDINBURGH MENTAL WELLBEING SCALE The

Short

Warwick

specifically

Edinburgh

designed

to

Mental

measure

Wellbeing

both

the

Scale

feeling

aspects of wellbeing. It consists of 7 statements

SWEMWBS

and

was

functioning

to which respondents

have a choice of 5 responses.

The Statements I’ve been feeling optimistic about the future I’ve been feeling useful I’ve been feeling relaxed I’ve been dealing with problems well I’ve been thinking clearly I’ve been feeling close to other people I’ve been able to make up my mind about things

The Possible Responses None of the time Rarely Some of the time Often All of the time

Each

response

has

a

corresponding

score

with

'None

of

the

time'

scoring 1 point and 'All of the time' scoring 5. The total score over all the responses is collected for each respondent. If the survey questions are

completed

compared

and

multiple can

times

indicate

over

a

given

whether

period,

an

improving, getting worse or staying the same.

the

individuals

scores

can

be

wellbeing

is

ONS SUBJECTIVE WELLBEING QUESTIONS The ONS (Office of National Statistics) Subjective Wellbeing Questions were

designed

to

capture

what

people

think

about

their

wellbeing.

It

has 5 questions and asks respondents to rate how they feel on a scale of 0 - 10 where 0 is not at all and 10 is completely.

The Questions Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?

Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?

Overall, to what extent do you feel that the things you do in your life are worthwhile?

Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?

THE SOCIAL TRUST QUESTION The

Social

which

is

Trust

known

Question to

be

a

is

key

a

single

factor

in

survey

question

wellbeing.

measuring

Research

by

trust

NEF

the

New Economics Forum suggests that social well-being be included as a headline

measure

of

well-being

given

its

importance

–

within

functioning – to overall well-being.

The Question Generally

speaking,

would

you

say

that

most

people

can

be

trusted,

or

that you can’t be too careful in dealing with people

Respondents are asked to score the question between 0 and 10 where 0 means you can’t be too careful and 10 means that most people can be trusted

OUR DATA CONSENT FORM

OUR ONE PAGE WELLBIENG QUESTIONNAIRE

OUR PLAN FOR COLLECTING THE DATA We proposed to collect baseline data from all participants at the start of the project - September 2019, to collect two sets of data during the project - January and June, and one final data set at the end of the project in September 2020.

We were able to collect four sets of Data from Let's Create - albeit not quite at the dates originally planned the

project

report,

we

have

so

far

but due to reasons outlined in

only

collected

baseline

data

from

the Men's Makers.

We

experienced

several

key

learning

points

during

data

collection

which have undoubtedly shaped our results and will inform our future work.

KEY LEARNING POINTS We decided to ask group members to complete the surveys during sessions

as

in

previous

groups

where

we

have

asked

members

to

complete surveys at home we got a very low response rate.

Completing perceived

the

as

survey

takes

encroaching

on

time

and

activity

has

time.

To

sometimes mitigate

been

this

we

dedicated 4 specific evaluation sessions during the project where we

would

gather

both

quantitative

members about this from

the

and

outset.

qualitative

data

and

told

The downside of this was if

someone did not show up on that day we were not able to collect data from them.

The SWEMBS questions all have to be completed for results to be valid - if a participant misses one question it affects their overall score making it inaccurate. Some group members missed questions making their scores inaccurate.

Of the ONS questions, 3 are phrased positively - how satisfied, how worthwhile, how happy but one questions is phrased negatively, how anxious - some participants noted this as being confusing.

With such a small sample size our results are not statistically valid, however, we felt that comparing individual’s scores throughout the project

would

give

us

an

indicator

impacting on their overall wellbeing.

as

to

whether

the

project

was

THE RESULTS

WHAT WE EXPECTED TO SEE VERSUS WHAT WE ACTUALLY SAW We

expected

(baseline)

set

to of

see

a

data

drop and

across the

all

second

measures set

of

between

data

the

1st

followed

by

fluctuating scores during the project. We anticipated and hoped that the final data sets would score higher than the first data set indicating that wellbeing had improved throughout the project.

An initial drop in wellbeing is quite a common phenomenon, particularly in therapeutic groups. Often, members' underlying feelings start to

surface feelings

and

as

can

the be

facilitator

gives

experienced

them

directly

space

and

which

attention,

can

often

these feel

uncomfortable, even painful. With support from the facilitator and the group, however, group members can start to process, understand and integrate these feelings.

While our initial expectations were heavily optimistic and we certainly did not predict a global pandemic followed by months of lockdown, our actual results are more sporadic than we anticipated and also starkly different for each individual.

The rest of the report compares data from Lets Create members. While there were 9 members in the group, only 8 completed the 1st data set, 5

completed

the

1st,

2nd

completed the final data set.

&

3rd

data

sets

and

only

3

members

WARWICK EDINBURGH MENTAL WELLBEING SCALE

incomplete data/ invalid score

incomplete data/ invalid score incomplete data/ invalid score

SHORT WARWICK EDINBURGH MENTAL WELLBEING SCALE (SWEMWBS) Each member was given a number (LC2-001/LC2-007) and their total SWEMWBS scores for each date are plotted on the graph above. As we had expected participant scores dropped between the first and second data sets with only one member's score rising for that period.

Between

the

2nd

and

3rd

data

sets

3

members

scores

rose

while

2

dropped. Those whose scores dropped between the 2nd and 3rd data sets rose again in the final data set.

Overall final scores were lower than initial scores however 3 had

invalid

completed

scores each

by

not

question

completing

their

score

higher for the corresponding data set.

all

would

7

questions have

been

-

members had

they

significantly

SOCIAL TRUST QUESTION

THE SOCIAL TRUST QUESTION SEWMWBS

Similar to the

scores, Let's Create members scores for the

Social Trust question also dropped between the first and second data sets.

Two

members'

scores

rose

dramatically

between

the

2nd

and

3rd

set

while another two fell over the same period, all be it less dramatically.

Between

the

2nd

and

3rd

data

sets

3

members

scores

rose

while

2

dropped. Interestingly the two whose scores dropped between the 2nd and 3rd data sets both rose in the final data set.

Overall, final scores were slightly higher than the baseline scores for all members who completed 3 or more data sets. This is encouraging as an overall indication of increasing positive wellbeing.

ONS PERSONAL WELLBEING QUESTION - LIFE SATISFACTION ONS SUBJECTIVE WELLBEING QUESTION SOCIAL - LIFE TRUST SATISFACTION QUESTION

incomplete data/ invalid score

incomplete data/ invalid score incomplete data/ invalid score

ONS SUBJECTIVE WELLBEING QUESTION - WORTHWHILE

ONS PERSONAL WELLBEING QUESTION - LIFE SATISFACTION ONS SUBJECTIVE WELLBEING SOCIAL QUESTION TRUST - HAPPINESS QUESTION

incomplete data/ invalid score

incomplete data/ invalid score incomplete data/ invalid score

ONS SUBJECTIVE WELLBEING QUESTION - ANXIETY

OFFICE OF NATIONAL STATISTICS SUBJECTIVE WELLBEING QUESTIONS

the

Office

questions

of

ask

National about

Statistics

levels

of

(ONS)

life

four

subjective

satisfaction,

wellbeing

self-worth,

levels

of

happiness and levels of anxiety. Results for each of the four questions are shown on the four separate graphs.

For

members

who

completed

3

or

more

data

sets

(5

members),

The

majority show increasing levels of life satisfaction and selfworth, even though their final scores were lower than the very first score. .

On the happiness question, only 1 member scored higher at the end of the

project

than

they

did

at

the

beginning

but

most

individuals

happiness rose after an initial dip.

3 members scores show lower levels of anxiety at the end of the project while 2 scored higher in this category.

Between March and November 2020 the group was not meeting at all.

The

November

data

set

was

collected

after

the

group

restarted

and

had completed 4 sessions. It's also worth noting that when the group started

back

they

were

spilt

into

two

smaller

groups

which

ran

for

a

shorter time and no longer shared food.

The

COVID

experiences impacted

pandemic have

the

has

been

results.

It

affected

each

dramatically is

impossible

member

different. to

know

and

This how

their

has the

individual

undoubtedly results

might

have looked if the group had continued in the format set up pre-March 2020.

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN AND WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

With such a small sample size and some of the data sets inaccurate or incomplete it is difficult to draw any solid conclusions from the data we have collected.

On

its

own,

the

data

means

little,

however,

observations, reflective sessions and the

spikes

and

troughs

in

each

when

we

compare

with

discussions with group members,

graph

line

often

start

to

make

more

sense.

For example, the massive spike in anxiety levels for LC2-008 between October and March corresponded to a dramatic deterioration in that individual's

physical

health

and

a

The subsequent dramatic

drop

from

corresponded

March

to

November

in

highly that

unsuitable

same

housing

situation.

individual's anxiety levels

with

a

move

to

a

much

more

suitable house and a huge increase in their quality of life.

The significant drop in score for LC2-001 on the social trust question between

March

and

November

situation with that individual's

corresponded

to

neighbours and

a

highly

challenging

understandably a huge

increase in their anxiety levels.

While

the

data

shows

anxiety

spikes

and

dropping

levels

of

life

satisfaction, group members mostly talk about how much they value the group.

This suggests that fluctuations in scores are just as affected by factors in

individuals

lives

as

they

are

by

the

impact

of

engaging

with

the

group. This in turn highlights the importance of viewing this quantitative data

in

conjunction

experiences.

with

individual

members

stories

about

their

lived

FINAL THOUGHTS & TOP TIPS TO TAKE FORWARD This awesome project has taught us so much

particularly about impact

measures and data collection. Our top 5 tips to take forward are...

Too many questions

- feedback and reflection suggest our survey

sheet was too complicated & too long. In future, we'd do better to focus on one or two simple questions

Larger sample sizes and longer-term data gathering -

this would

generate much better more accurate results

Don't use complicated scoring systems -

The

SWEMWB

was

too

easy to invalidate & time-consuming to score, keep it simple

People don't like filling in forms

-

a

more

creative,

quicker

and

interactive way of gathering the data might work better

People do like telling their stories

-

visual

and

conversational

style reflection sessions really work & people enjoy them too