Well-being: the looking glass in 4-D

Abstract

Well-being affects all of us. It is intricately interwoven with our identity and interactions. This study explores the relational contexts in which well-being is created, maintained, and diminished. In order to accomplish this goal, three main themes were addressed: (a) the co-researcher's understanding of what well-being is, (b) the co-researcher's understanding of how community affects a person's well-being, and (c) a description of the co-researcher's best of times and worst of times. These phenomenological themes guide the context and process of this research. This study is grounded in the theoretical stance of interpretivism with a constructionism epistemology; the methodology employed is phenomenological research utilizing conversational interviewing methods. I thematically analyzed the emergent capta from the interviews into the following themes: (a) What is Well-Being?: a definition of well-being and (b) The Struggle in the Search: co-researchers lived experiences of wellness. These themes offer an in-depth exploration of understanding the meaning of well-being the lived experiences informing those understandings.