Six Ways to Well-Being (6W-WeB)
Describes the six behaviour domains and provides the questionnaire and scoring instructions.
Well-being research in this collection asks not only how people feel, but what they do and why. Valued action, motivation and everyday engagement provide a way to connect that question with assessment.
The Six Ways to Well-Being questionnaire covers connecting, challenging oneself, giving, physical activity, embracing the moment and self-care. It distinguishes engagement from personally important reasons for acting and feelings of pressure.
The broader research also asks whether the same activity or process relates to well-being in the same way for everyone. Longitudinal and daily-life analyses help separate group-level patterns from person-specific ones.
Begin with the 6W-WeB chapter for the measure and scoring, then read the values and individual-level papers. Associations in an observational study should not be read as proof that changing one score will cause a particular outcome.
Key papers: a reading path
Relationships between valued action and well-being across the transition from high school to early adulthood
Examines the direction of links between valued action and well-being after school.
Importance, pressure, and success: Dimensions of values and their links to personality
Distinguishes the importance of values from pressure and success in living them.
A Personalised Approach to Identifying Important Determinants of Well-being
Explores how psychological processes relate to well-being within individuals.
One Size Does Not Make All Happy: Idionomic Links Between Striving for Positive States and Happiness in Experience Sampling
Examines individual differences in links between pursuing positive states and happiness.
Testing the applicability of idionomic statistics in longitudinal studies: The example of ‘doing what matters’
Tests individual-level relationships between doing what matters and daily well-being.
Measures and tools
Collaborators in these papers
Coauthors in this selection include Baljinder K. Sahdra, Steven C. Hayes, Patrick C.L. Heaven, Madeleine I. Fraser, Michael E. Levin, Korena S. Klimczak. Full author lists appear on the linked paper pages.
How to cite the core work
Cite the specific paper that supports the point you are making, rather than this reading guide. Starting references:
Basarkod, G., Ciarrochi, J., & Sahdra, B. (2023). Six Ways to Well-Being (6W-WeB). In O. N. Medvedev, C. U. Krägeloh, R. J. Siegert, & N. N. Singh (Eds.), Handbook of Assessment in Mindfulness Research (pp. 1–36). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77644-2_67-2
Williams, K. E., Ciarrochi, J., & Heaven, P. C. L. (2014). Relationships between valued action and well-being across the transition from high school to early adulthood. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 10(2), 127–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2014.920404
Veage, S., Ciarrochi, J., & Heaven, P. C. L. (2011). Importance, pressure, and success: Dimensions of values and their links to personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 50(8), 1180–1185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.01.028