Quality of life and well-being in a South African mining sector : exploring a general construct

Abstract

Numerous studies have focused on the overlap between subjective, psychological, and social well-being. However, very little research has explored the overlap of well-being and quality of life despite considerable overlap at face value. Expanding upon the foundational work of Skevington and Böhnke (2018) and guided by Keyes' (2002) mental health continuum model, this study aimed to find cross-cultural evidence of a general well-being construct underlying quality of life, subjective, psychological, and social well-being within a South African mining sector. The study was conducted in two separate interactive phases using an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. During phase one, quantitative data was collected with the MHC LF (Keyes, 2002) and the WHOQOL Combi (Skevington et al., 2021). A sample of 500 respondents was obtained from a South African mining company. During this phase, a bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling (B-ESEM) framework was used to investigate a general factor. A five-factor B-ESEM model showed the best fit and provided evidence for a general life quality well-being factor underlying the three mental well-being constructs and quality of life. The general life quality and well-being factor showed high internal consistency reliability and omegaH values. Complete measurement invariance between African and White race groups provided cross-cultural evidence for the construct. This was followed by a second phase of collecting qualitative data to gain a deeper understanding of the participants’ views of the statistical results (Bowen et al., 2017; Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018; Ivankova et al., 2006). Online personal interviews were conducted with four participants purposefully selected from the first sample. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. The second qualitative phase of the study supported the findings of the first phase. This study's main strength and contribution lie in identifying common ground between the disciplines of psychological well-being studies and quality of life in health studies. In addition, the study applied new developments in structure identification to the study of well-being and quality of life, making a methodological contribution.