Cultural and spiritual dimensions of people's well-being and their implications for development

The study endeavored to identify the perception of people about their well-being through their own elicited constructs and meaning of well-being. People's peception of their well-being constitutes their current state of well-being and their desired state of well-being. The exploratory study focused on the cultural and spiritual factors that influence people's perception of their well-being and indicators of well-being. Various methods applied of the study helped to explain the gap between the people's perception of their well-being and the present context of development. Once the gap was determined, then the study came out with some guiding principles to formulate a theoretical model for community development programs integrating cultural and spiritual dimensions of well-being. The study was conducted in a village town panchayat called Vailankanni in India. Description and analysis of the place and the people studied have been guided initially by ground theorizing and qualitative research methods such as repertory grid technique, observation, interview and in-depth interview, focus group discussion, and round table discussion. The data were analyzed by adapting domain of well-being analysis, grids analysis, community analysis, holistic assessment and researcher's interpretations. The overall aim of the study was to understand well-being from the view-point of the people themselves. Results indicated that people's perception was influenced by literacy, caste, religion, and gender related factors. However, the dominant themes in the identification of people/s well-being were derived from the respondent's most important constructs, their meaning of well-being, and the high level of preference they attributed to those. The results revealed that the culturally and spiritually relevant indicators such as: increase in family union, individual freedom and responsibility, participation in cultural activities, giving importance to education, environment, health and use of indigenous knowledge, observance of religious tolerance and harmony, absence of religious fanaticism offering value formation, and strategies of well-being will enhance community development programs and implementation. The study concluded that contextually derived indicators differ from those that are externally derived or imposed. Taking culturally and spiritually relevant indicators in formulating development interventions could help transform communities and lives to become self-reliant and holistic