If you’re young, female, in an ethnic minority, have a disability or are in poor health, you are more likely to report lower mental wellbeing. That is the finding of a survey of over 1200 people in Wales.
The research commissioned by Public Health Wales, found that these things had more influence on mental wellbeing than people’s access to resources and opportunities.
Looking after our mental wellbeing is always important, even when things are going well. Most people in Wales recognise this, with 93 percent of those in the survey agreeing it’s important to take action to protect mental wellbeing, but fewer people know what actions they could take to support their mental wellbeing. Those who were less likely to know, were male (74 per cent), 18-29 year olds (70 per cent), reported a disability (73 per cent) or reported poor health (62 per cent).
Only 50 per cent of people who took part in our survey were satisfied with the opportunities they had to do activities that matter for their mental wellbeing, either on their own or with other people in their communities.
People across Wales told us about a range of activities that help them to feel good and function well. The most popular were physical activity and being outside in nature. Age made a difference to what kind of things people are taking part in. For example, 30-39 year olds were most likely to spend time in nature. Gender also had an influence. More females were engaged in creative activities and were connecting with others through sport, social or other clubs and organisations.
Being with family and friends was very important to people. Particularly having friendship groups with shared interests that could provide support and understanding.
Free time also mattered to people, but only around half of the people surveyed were satisfied with the amount of free time they have. 62 percent said they were able to find time to do things that matter to them. Finding time to do things that matter to them was particularly difficult for carers and people with babies and young children.
Emily Van de Venter, Consultant in Health Improvement for Public Health Wales said,
“It’s so important that people understand how they can look after their mental wellbeing. The people we spoke to in our survey mainly highlighted costs and time as being a barrier to taking part in activities, but we know that even small things like getting outside, or noticing what we’re grateful for can make a difference and don’t involve a lot of time or money. We hope that our Hapus programme will help people find ways of connecting with activities that help them to feel good and function well.”
Public Health Wales will use this information to further inform action for those most in need of support with mental wellbeing. This will include working with partners on national and local approaches to addressing the barriers that people face to engaging with mental wellbeing promoting activities.
