Health and Well Being

How good is the health of the population as a whole? Do all groups have access to good health services, rather than access to good health systems? How responsive is the health system and how satisfied are citizens with it? How well is the burden of financing a health system shared within the population?

With a multidisciplinary team from psychology, sociology, economics, law, nursing and health promotion, the Health and Well-Being cluster examines ways of improving population health and well-being and reducing inequalities in health throughout life.

The outcomes they target include measuring health gain for people, family, community and society; assessing well-being and life satisfaction; and developing new approaches in preventive health care. They find ways to tackle society-wide gaps in health and well-being. They support citizens and experts in designing well-being measures and are interested in creating a national well-being index for Ireland. They are part of a movement calling for measurement beyond GDP and for a values-in-action assessment of well-being.

If you would like to research health and well-being, or if your government, organisation or community would appreciate some insights to help resolve these problems, contact the cluster leaders Dr Jane Walsh or Dr Gerry Molloy.

Research Focus

The Health and Well-Being cluster is a research leader in specific areas such as:

  1. The use of mobile technologies for health and wellbeing
  2. Barriers and facilitators in the use of oral contraception
  3. Trends, behaviours and contexts in child health
  4. Interventions to reduce chronic pain
  5. The health, social and economic impact of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease
  6. Health behaviour change to improve health outcomes.