Introduction

This chapter will explore the challenges inherent in choosing the most appropriate methodologies to determine what works to improve the well-being of communities. Well-being is arguably a nebulous concept to define in the individual context, but when we think about the well-being of communities, additional concepts, such as the way a community functions, how that impacts on the wellbeing of individuals and what influences both of these outcomes, create interesting challenges for researchers. Contextual influences, such as housing, access to local services, social inclusion and local democratic processes, can be both part of the change being evaluated and the outcomes being assessed. Moreover, many community-led programmes, while potentially highly effective in their local context, have not been published or evaluated with the same techniques or rigour as professionally-led interventions.

This chapter will report on how the multidisciplinary What Works: Wellbeing Centre's Communities Evidence Programme has decided to approach these challenges: from extensive consultation with a wide range of stakeholders to define the issues, to the development of a working Theory of Change, to innovative search strategies, leading to the inclusion and critique of evidence from many different traditions and contexts. The aim of the Centre is to produce findings that are relevant and useful to both local and national stakeholders.

What Works: Wellbeing Centre

The What Works: Wellbeing Centre is part of a network of What Works centres in the UK, which also include the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the Centre for Ageing Better and the Early Intervention Foundation. With initial funding from Public Health England and the Economic and Social Research Council, the What Works: Wellbeing Centre comprises four collaborative evidence programmes: Communities; Culture and Sport; Work and Learning; and a cross-cutting stream. The four evidence programmes are overseen by a central ‘Hub’, which manages and approves work delivery plans for each of the four programmes, and took the lead on developing a collaborative ‘methods’ guide for conducting systematic reviews for the Centre, with input from methodological experts from each of the four evidence programmes (Snape et al, 2016).

The What Works: Wellbeing Centre's Communities Evidence Programme is led by a consortium of 10 partners, both academic and non-academic.