Civic Pride, Health and Wellbeing

This project involved a mixed-methods study to examine how and to what extent the volunteering programme has impacted those taking part, particularly in terms of subjective wellbeing and civic pride.

The team used and tested a theory of change developed by the What Works Centre for Wellbeing. They worked closely with the city host programme and the monitoring and evaluation team to measure the impact of volunteering on volunteers’ mental wellbeing and civic pride. This will then be measured both over time, and in comparison with other Coventry and national populations.

They also investigated whether there were some groups who saw greater change, based on characteristics such as age, gender or marital status. In both quantitative and qualitative works, the team explored the mechanisms of change and intermediate outcomes between volunteering and subjective wellbeing, civic pride and belonging.

About the team

Dr Oyinlola Oyebode is an Associate Professor in Public Health at Warwick Medical School and has experience of leading translational projects, working in partnership with policy and practice colleagues to produce high quality and useful research.

Dr Rebecca Johnson is a former Assistant Professor in Public Health at Coventry University. She has experience working with local authorities on projects related to public health and wellbeing and she is an expert in mixed methods research.