Evaluating Multicomponent Wellbeing Strategies: Theoretical and Methodological Insights

Abstract

The literature on health and wellbeing interventions presents the need to build on the current evaluation frameworks and methodologies. There is a requirement to account for multifaceted nature of health and wellbeing interventions in organisations, operating amidst the dynamics of contextually bounded organisational change. There have also been demands to enhance evaluation of the intervention outcomes, so that they can be implemented in a cost-effective manner. We therefore propose to augment current evaluation approaches in two ways. Firstly, we suggest a shift of the focal point of analysis from single or combinations of a few health and wellbeing interventions to the organisation as a whole. We discuss the value of planned and emergent organisational change, so that we can achieve a more comprehensive understanding of organisational gains in wellbeing by tracing both intended and unintended mechanisms and outcomes. Methodologically, we propose that evaluators consider conducting longitudinal multiple case study designs. Secondly, we advocate cost-effectiveness approaches to evaluation, which in our view offer more than cost-benefit analysis and return on investment approaches, because of their ability to account for health and wellbeing gains in addition to economic costs of interventions.