Building Consensus on Domains of Wellness Using Finnish and International Expert Panels: A Delphi-Method Study.

Purpose: The paper investigates whether we can build consensus on wellness domains and create a more universal conceptual framework for wellness.

Design: A modified ranking type of Delphi method.

Participants: Two separate panels consisting of 23 Finnish and 11 international experts.

Methods: Panels were asked to rate the importance of 61 systematic review-based wellness domains and to eventually form a wellness model in both panels. The similarities between the resulting models were investigated and a new conceptual framework for wellness was created.

Results: The Finnish model included 8 themes and 20 domains, and the international model 5 themes and eleven domains. Eight of the eleven domains were an exact match for the Finnish model (namely mental health, cognitive health, exercise, nutrition, community, life satisfaction, meaningfulness, work-life balance). There were also 2 similar domains that could be found in both models (namely self-care and lifestyle habits, social networks). A new conceptual framework for wellness was created based on these ten domains.

Conclusion: The lack of consensus on the wellness construct has made it difficult to find comparable measures that could assess and improve the level of wellness of individuals, organizations, and society. This study offers a conceptual framework that can be further validated and turned into a more universal measurement instrument.