An Exploration of the Lived Experiences of Wellbeing Among Emerging Adults in South-East Queensland: a Photo-Elicitation Study

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Sofija, Ernesta
Sebar, Bernadette
Sav, Adem
Harris, Neil
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2021
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Abstract

While interest in wellbeing has grown immensely among practitioners and researchers across various disciplines, there is limited understanding of how lay people, particularly emerging adults, conceptualise and experience wellbeing. Exploring the lived experiences of wellbeing can offer insight into the context within which emerging adults understand and manage their health as well as help facilitate a more dynamic understanding of the processes of their wellbeing. Using a participant-driven photo-elicitation interviewing method, this study explored how emerging adults understand and manage wellbeing in their daily lives. Eighteen emerging adults in South-East Queensland took pictures capturing their understanding of wellbeing and attended in-depth interviews to discuss the meaning of their photographs. Thematic analysis revealed five themes important to wellbeing: maintaining supportive relationships, looking after yourself, accepting yourself, progressing yourself, and centreing yourself. Participants discussed how these elements contributed to their wellbeing, demonstrating that wellbeing was perceived and experienced as a multifaceted, dynamic, and fluid construct. Maintaining supportive relationships was viewed by participants as the most crucial to wellbeing. The findings offer insight into how emerging adults understand and manage wellbeing in their daily lives. The findings can inform the development of population-acceptable health promotion interventions aligned with the views and experiences of emerging adults.

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Journal of Applied Youth Studies

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This publication has been entered as an advanced online version in Griffith Research Online.

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Sociology

Psychology

Cognitive and computational psychology

Public health

Social work

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Sofija, E; Sebar, B; Sav, A; Harris, N, An Exploration of the Lived Experiences of Wellbeing Among Emerging Adults in South-East Queensland: a Photo-Elicitation Study, Journal of Applied Youth Studies, 2021

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