The Concept of Well-Being: A Construction from the Review of the Literature and the Perspective of Institutional and Community Actors in the city of Bogotá – Colombia

Abstract

Ensuring the best possible health, through care focused on the individual and collective needs and well-being, has been one of the health priorities of multiple administrations. This article seeks to build the definition of well-being in the context of health care through a mixed methodology of data collection that included a descriptive review of the literature and a qualitative approach, through group interviews, world café style, with representatives of institutions, from the city of Bogotá and members of the community (97participants were interviewed). From this, a definition of well-being was consolidated according to the concept synthesis strategy, with an emphasis on care for well-being. This concept shows approaches that may be relevant in the discussions that revolve around the formulation of public health policies and their implementation in health care models. The definition of well-being is ambivalent, as it is present both at the individual and the collective level. Although the improvement of people’s quality of life and the absence of disease are some conceptual determinants, well-being is also defined by a set of factors that promote an ideal state in people and which implies new forms of relationships.