The Personal Wellbeing Index in the South African IsiXhosa ...

Soc Indic Res (2015) 124:835–862 DOI 10.1007/s11205-014-0820-6

The Personal Wellbeing Index in the South African IsiXhosa Translation: A Qualitative Focus Group Study Valerie Møller • Benjamin Roberts • Dalindyebo Zani

Accepted: 8 November 2014 / Published online: 19 November 2014  Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Abstract International scholars who rely on the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) to compare cross-cultural quality of life have often been confronted with the problems of nuances getting ‘lost in translation’. This qualitative study explored the meaning of the isiXhosa version of the PWI in focus group discussions with native speakers. Participants in the study discussed how they understood and rated their lives on each item in the index. The discourse conveyed the different shades of meaning associated with the PWI items of life satisfaction and eight domains of life. The study found that PWI items related to material well-being, living standards, achievements in life and future (financial) security were best understood. The PWI items referring to personal relationships and community connectedness were seen as nearly identical in meaning. Both translation and cultural factors may be responsible for the conflation of these two items. Noteworthy is that the PWI item on religion and spirituality was seen to embrace both Christian and traditional African beliefs and practice, without prejudice. A new item on daily activities was piloted with good results. The focus group study also showcased the manner in which discussants worked with the rating scale and drew on social comparisons when evaluating global and domain satisfactions. It is concluded that cognitive testing of PWI items in different translations will serve not only to appraise the validity of PWI ratings across cultures, but importantly also opens a window on what makes for a life of quality in a particular social setting. Keywords Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI)
Focus group discussions of meanings
Cross-cultural quality of life
Cognitive testing
Second-level deconstruction of life satisfaction

V. Møller (&)
D. Zani Institute of Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] B. Roberts Democracy, Governance and Service Delivery Programme, Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa e-mail: [email protected]

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1 Introduction The Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) has been used to measure personal quality of life in many countries around the world including South Africa and has been translated into dozens of languages for this purpose (International Wellbeing Group 2014). International quality-of-life scholars have tried their best to approximate the meaning of the items in the PWI in the vernacular languages of their target populations for cross-cultural comparison. The standard method of forward and back translation is commonly used when preparing the PWI for international application (e.g. Lau et al. 2005; Renn et al. 2009; Tiliouine et al. 2009; Webb 2009; Wills 2009; Yiengprugsawan et al. 2010). However, language is notoriously nuanced and context-specific. If the original meanings of personal well-being items are lost in translation, cross-cultural comparisons may become invalid (see Camfield and Ruta 2007). The Personal Wellbeing Index is designed as a parsimonious first-level deconstruction of satisfaction with life as a whole. It comprises a minimum set of core domains that contribute unique variance to subjective well-being (Cummins 1996, 2005; Davern et al. 2007). Respondents use an end-defined 11-point scale, from 0 (completely dissatisfied) to 10 (completely satisfied), and subjective well-being is the aggregate average score across the core domains. The first-level domains of the PWI are semi-abstract and it is assumed that respondents will target the most salient aspect of the domain as the basis for their response (Cummins 2000). The case study reported here examines the isiXhosa version of the PWI that has been applied in the annual South African Social Attitudes Survey since 2009 (SASAS 2012). The SASAS questionnaire is administered in the country’s eleven official languages— including isiXhosa, which is the second most common home language in the country, spoken by over 8 million or 16 % of the population. Our study was conducted in the Eastern Cape Province, which is home to the largest group of isiXhosa speakers in South Africa. In our study, the isiXhosa PWI was presented to groups of native speakers who discussed their understanding of the substantive content and how they rated their satisfaction on each item of the index. In effect, the focus groups deconstructed the core items of the PWI at the second level when discussing which aspects of domains were most salient for personal well-being. The study’s objectives were fivefold: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

To explore the meaning of the PWI cues in the isiXhosa translation. Was the original meaning understood or lost in translation? To review the range of real-life experiences in the PWI domains that shaped ratings of personal well-being. Which aspects of PWI domains were most salient? To explore the time frames used for ratings of well-being. To inquire which reference comparisons influenced satisfaction on PWI items. To observe the manner in which the PWI scale was used. Are the scale’s anchors and its calibration readily understood and do they expedite satisfaction ratings?

1.1 IsiXhosa IsiXhosa is the language of the Xhosa people who live in the Eastern Cape Province. It is an Nguni language belonging to the Bantu cluster. The characteristic clicks in isiXhosa and

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some of its vocabulary are of San origin. Sub-Saharan Africa has a strong oral tradition; its history and customs have been transmitted from one generation to the next without documentation. The vernacular spoken by the Xhosa people was first transcribed using the Latin alphabet by Christian missionaries who set up schools and hospitals on mission stations in the Eastern Cape in the nineteenth century. Today, isiXhosa is still mainly a spoken language used in everyday informal discourse and there is a limited audience for literature in isiXhosa, as is the case with South Africa’s other nine official African languages. Although the promotion of language rights have gained importance since the coming of democracy in 1994, teaching in African languages is mostly restricted to primary and secondary level education and English is increasingly the preferred medium of instruction at tertiary level. English, which is a second language for the majority of South Africans, is used for most official communications and business transactions. Social research in South Africa is aligned to Africa’s oral tradition. The established practice is to conduct questionnaire surveys through face-to-face interviews in the respondent’s home language at the place of residence. 1.2 The Sample Five focus group discussions were held with township dwellers living in Rhini, Grahamstown East, a historically black/African residential area of Grahamstown, Makana Municipality, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Social indicators identify the Eastern Cape as the poorest of the country’s nine provinces. It is characterised by high rates of poverty and unemployment and a development backlog, a legacy of the apartheid era when the majority of the Xhosa people were forced to live in two rural ‘homelands’ which served as labour reserves. The five discussion groups broadly represented youth, students, middle-aged women, older men, and a mixed group of middle-aged adults. A total of 23 individuals participated in the study; 10 men and 13 women. Respondents were aged from 17 to 60 years. Average age was 19 years for the youth group, 24 years for student group, 42 years for the women and the mixed-adult groups, and 54 years for the group of men. Levels of education ranged from no schooling to a university degree. The majority of discussants were either at school or unemployed. One of the students had dropped out of university and another student had completed her degree but had failed to find employment. Only a minority of the respondents were employed. Employment ranged from low-level occupations such as a domestic worker or cashier to professionals—mainly nurses and teachers. Table 4 in the Appendix gives an overview of sample characteristics. 1.3 Method The five focussed-group discussions were conducted by one of the authors, an experienced facilitator, in isiXhosa, the home language of both discussants and the facilitator. Four or five discussants participated in each group discussion. The facilitator visited homes in Grahamstown East to recruit discussants from different neighbourhoods for each group. Discussions were conducted in single sessions in the home of one of the participants in the group and lasted as long as it took to discuss all PWI items, approximately 1‘–2 h. As is customary when conducting focus group studies in South Africa, discussants were offered refreshments during the session and a token honorarium at the end of the session. The PWI cues and the rating scale were the ones used in the nationally representative South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS). At the beginning of each session, study

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participants were provided with the isiXhosa show card with the rating scale. The scale was a horizontal one with tick boxes starting from the left for scores from 0 to 10. The end and middle anchors were labelled ‘Completely Dissatisfied 00’, ‘Neutral 05’, and ‘Completely Satisfied 10’ in isiXhosa.1 The facilitator typically introduced the PWI in the following manner: ‘This is about the personal well-being of people. The questions are aimed at finding out about ourselves by giving scores according to the scale you have in front of you. Zero would mean you feel completely dissatisfied. Ten means you feel completely satisfied. And the middle of the scale is 5, which means you feel neutral, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.’ The groups agreed to have their discussion sessions tape-recorded. Participants were assigned numbers and asked to identify themselves by means of these for the recording of the discussion. All participants were encouraged to contribute to the discussion and to rate their satisfaction on the domain in question. The participants discussed the following PWI items: life satisfaction and the eight core domains that made up the PWI in 2012, as well as the domain of daily activities that a group of international researchers had identified as a possible additional core domain2: Thinking about your own life and personal circumstances, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole? How satisfied are you with your standard of living? How satisfied are you with your health? How satisfied are you with what you are achieving in life? How satisfied are you with your personal relationships? How satisfied are you with how safe you feel? How satisfied are you with feeling part of your community? How satisfied are you with your future (financial) security?3 How satisfied are you with your spirituality or religion? How satisfied are you with your daily activities? The English transcripts of the group discussions were content-analysed item by item. The focus of the analysis was on the local understanding of the PWI items and the manner in which discussants went about rating their satisfaction, with a view to meeting the objectives of the study outlined above.

1

The scale used in the 2012 SASAS survey and our focus group study conformed with the International Wellbeing Group guidelines at the time. The original bipolar response scale has since been replaced with a unipolar response scale and the end-anchors are now defined as ‘no satisfaction at all’ and ‘completely satisfied’ as set out in the latest 2013 guidelines (International Wellbeing Group 2013).

2

The PWI is not seen as a static device but one that evolves as new data and theory becomes available. Changes to the index are determined by members of the International Wellbeing Group (2013). Our focus group study covered domains in the group’s recognised version at 2012 that included the domain of religion/ spirituality (Tiliouine et al. 2009; Webb 2009; Wills 2009). The original PWI comprised seven core domains. Religion/spirituality was added as an eighth core domain in 2006. In 2013, the PWI reverted to the original version and religion/spirituality became an optional domain to be added at researchers’ discretion in regions where religion plays an important role in society. The domain ‘daily activities’ was included for the first time in the 2012 SASAS survey. It has not been accepted as either an optional or a core domain at the time of writing in 2014.

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The South African version of the PWI used in the SASAS surveys has specified that the item on future security is of a financial nature to distinguish it from personal safety and security in a country that has a very high crime rate.

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1.4 Organisation of the Paper The rationale and the method of the case study have been introduced. The remainder of the paper is structured as follows: The second section reviews each PWI item, in turn, to shed light on how its cue was understood by focus group participants and what factors influenced their satisfaction ratings. Excerpts from the discourse are given to illustrate shades of meaning in the local study context. The third section reports reference comparisons and time frames that shaped ratings. The fourth section addresses the manner in which participants used the response scale and reports satisfaction ratings from the case study. The discussion and conclusion summarise key findings related to the questions posed at the outset.

2 Results 2.1 Communicating the Personal Wellbeing Index in the IsiXhosa Translation 2.1.1 The PWI Anchor Item: Life as a Whole Satisfaction with life as a whole serves as the anchor of the Personal Wellbeing Index, in the sense that it embraces the domain-specific items that follow. This was the first item presented to the discussion groups in the case study. ‘Thinking about your own life and personal circumstances, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole?’ Participants in most groups initially seemed perplexed when faced with the task of rating their lives. In many cases, they spontaneously settled on what the quality-of-life literature refers to as the ‘bottom-up’ definition of life quality that sums up the most salient domains of life (Andrews and Withey 1976; Headey et al. 1991; Diener et al. 2002). The list of important domains emerging from the group discussions included family, friends, community relationships, living standards and financial security. Noteworthy is that these domains are precisely the ones covered in the PWI index. For example, when asked what ‘life as a whole’ meant, respondents in the women’s and student groups explained: According to me, life is the way you live, like where do you live and how, what kind of a life you live and where you reside. What opportunities do you have if any? When asked to rate her life, she said: I don’t have money. It is not good where I live, … I give myself 4 (Female teacher, 46 years). Who am I? Where do I come from and where I am going? Also how do I live, what is my religion, my education, in my community – how do I fit in? I believe that my life is in the place where I reside, where I worship, and where I work (Domestic worker, 44 years, score of 8). It is the way in which we live; like financially and also the people around you, your family and neighbours, how you live with each other (University drop-out, 30 years, score of 3). Reference domains for rating life as a whole appeared to differ by age. The youth in the study tended to measure their lives according to educational achievements and access to

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post-school employment, which is in short supply for South African youth generally, and particularly in Grahamstown. They also made social comparisons with their age peers regarding material well-being, indicating that consumption is a status symbol for youth in the new South Africa. The older groups clearly rated their lives according to living standards achieved over a lifetime. The first person to start the discussion in the middle-aged mixed respondent group, a 40-year old male nurse, opted to tell his life story. He stressed that achieving the good life was a life-long undertaking. Life is an endeavour as we all know. You don’t just all of a sudden have a good life, you struggle, you strive, you must have a vision and a mission and all of that makes life whole. His was a success story starting from humble beginnings: I didn’t grow up in a rich family… I had to go to school bare-footed. …but that did not stop me from going to school. There were times that you’d go to school on an empty stomach, sometimes come back home and have nothing to eat. I was also fortunate that my stepfather cared for education and struggled to see me going to school, … and sent me to initiation school so I could become a man.4 He then found me a job when I was still at secondary school. I went on till I dropped out at tertiary level but got fortunate to find employment at a government institution. I started as a nursing assistant, but today I’m a professional nurse in a specialist post that pays well. I came out of a one-roomed shack every day, but extended the place, got married with a person who helped me build a better future. I also have neighbours with whom I have a good relationship. So, basically I’m satisfied with my life as a whole. I can’t say completely, hence put myself at 8. The others in the middle-aged discussion group followed suit and recalled their varied experiences of growing up in a rural area, of disrupted family lives, migration to the city of Grahamstown, teenage pregnancy, interrupted education owing to financial problems, marriage and starting a family. A major advance in life in most of the narratives was finding employment or pursuing a career. Alternatively, if discussants felt they had not yet achieved their life goals, their faith and religiosity sustained hope in a better future. One of the participants in the women’s group, who lived in a government-subsidised house ‘whose standard is very low’, rated her overall quality of life with a score of 8: ‘As a believer, all things are possible… With me, life is very good because in life I was fortunate to be a believer in God. As a believer, all things are possible. …I don’t have money but believe in due time I will have it’ (Teacher, 40 years). Similarly, another woman in the group, who gave her quality of life a low rating of 3, said it was ‘only through faith that I’ve seen things coming through for me in a hopeless situation’. Although she was ‘not really employed’ and had had many casual jobs, she had ‘never slept on an empty stomach’ (Cashier, 44 years). The older men’s group was the most dissatisfied with life. Their families were existing hand to mouth mainly on government grants for which they were grateful. ‘Yes, the government comes in with his support but still does not make me satisfied’ (Unemployed, 60 years, score 0). While the government provided support, it did not make for a satisfying life. One of the men complained that he had battled to claim a disability grant to which he felt he was entitled. Another man spoke of being grateful when his family looked after him. 4

Young men in their late teens are circumcised in a coming-of-age ritual among the isiXhosa.

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It does happen that I live on an empty stomach for the whole week. Perhaps I get lucky and receive food from my family which does not last long. I am sick, suffering from a chest problem since eight years ago. It has taken me the whole month looking for a job but all in vain (Unemployed, 50 years, score 0). A third discussant in the men’s group struggled to make ends meet on a meagre salary because he also supported his brother’s children. He lamented that jobs were scarce; the job market was corrupt, and wages had not kept up with the cost of living. The little I get paid, I have to share it with them. There’s not enough employment in SA [South Africa], the few of which goes to some in favouritism. Food and fuel have gone up and are expensive but our salaries are at a standstill. That’s the life we live. I am not at all satisfied. Zero on the scale (Cleaner, 41 years, score 0). Apart from his poor health (‘my health is not 100 %’), one of the older men was disenchanted with the new government’s broken promises. Secondly, it is [the] life that we live in this new South Africa; it is not satisfying. Before this new South Africa came into being, the government promised us employment and a lot of things that would make me feel free, but there’s none of that whatsoever that I received. Instead, only poverty is ruling and more people are unemployed, including myself. The government promised people houses in which we find out that water penetrates into and we live in wet and miserable places.5 None of the things the government promised has been fulfilled except looking out for each other as friends and relatives. … You’d feel that life in the apartheid era was better than the one we live in now, although it had its sorrows and hardships. … I am completely dissatisfied with the life I am living (Unemployed, 59 years, score 0). 2.1.2 Domain Satisfaction Items in the Personal Wellbeing Index 2.1.2.1 Standard of Living ‘How satisfied are you with your standard of living?’ Discussants in all groups associated their overall life satisfaction with material well-being. For the older men, this was self-evident. When asked how satisfied they were with their living standard, they unanimously replied, ‘This is exactly what we’ve just explained [in response to the preceding PWI item on life satisfaction]—completely dissatisfied!’ The discussion ended there. Other groups described their living conditions in more detail. The 46-year-old teacher in the women’s group cited above, who stated that ‘life is the way you live’, reported: Where I live is a place whose standard is very low, … there are no roads and the houses are not in good standard. We who reside in this area are low-class people, we don’t have money. … Most of us are unemployed and even for those employed it is also not easy. 5

Over 3 million government-subsidised houses, so-called RDP houses, have been provided for low-income households since 1994 through the Reconstruction and Development Programme. The poor quality of RDP housing construction is a countrywide complaint. In the Grahamstown township from which study participants were recruited, a 2007 household survey found that over half of householders reported flooding of their houses and 42 % a leaking roof. RDP houses were more likely to have been flooded than other houses (53 vs. 36 %) (Møller & Radloff 2010, p. 58).

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Another woman in the group recalled how she’d struggled all her life since childhood. Marriage had not brought any change in her situation, nor had a business venture selling clothing, and ‘the government’s promises of job creation after voting’ had proved to be empty. ‘If I were not a believer, I could have committed suicide’, she concluded and gave herself a score of 0. Lack of jobs, especially youth unemployment, was cited as one of the main reasons for low living standards. The chances of finding paid work were made worse by corruption and cronyism in the job market, and in the case of the youth, by lack of experience and skills. One of the women thought the government should ‘follow up’ on the idea of a universal unemployment grant which had been under discussion for many years.6 Even the discussants with jobs complained of being indebted owing to the large number of dependants. It is hard to be a bread winner in your immediate family as well as in your extended family as circumstances force us to (Teacher, 40 years, score 6). 2.1.2.2 Personal Health ‘How satisfied are you with your health?’ The discussion produced a long list of ailments, some more and some less serious, including muscle pains, headaches, backache, flu, toothache, fractures, sinusitis, food allergies (‘I don’t eat red meat, when I do, I get sick’), and work-related injuries which had entitled some of the injured to receive state disability grants. Chronic illnesses included asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure; the latter two are common afflictions among older South Africans. Two older respondents were concerned about weight loss. Although they did not mention this, there is a social stigma attached to weight loss, which is known to be a symptom of tuberculosis and/or HIV/AIDS. As might be expected, the two younger groups expressed fewer health concerns than the older groups. When rating their satisfaction with health, the student group spontaneously made references to their HIV status and whether they ate healthy food and slept well. Quite a few of the middle-aged and elderly respondents considered themselves ‘not at all healthy’. One of the men in the mixed group rated his health as 10 because his diabetes was under control. Everyday stress was often regarded as a cause of illness. The student dropout admitted she’d felt depressed when her life had not turned out as expected. Some of the older discussants who complained of stress-related illness were quick to blame the government for neglecting their welfare. Respondents with a disability always noted whether they were beneficiaries of a disability grant. Disability entitles South Africans to a social grant which, along with the state old-age pension, pays the highest amount of social assistance. A staff nurse in the mixed group spoke of how her health had suffered after she’d experienced a miscarriage as a young woman. Her family interpreted her miscarriage as a sign from the ancestors and sent her to train as a sangoma (diviner). The tobacco smoke used in many of the rituals performed by traditional healers gave her asthma so she applied

6

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) government finally approved a youth wage subsidy in 2014. Approval had been delayed for several years owing to lack of support from the ANC’s trade union alliance partners who argued that older workers stood to lose their jobs if the grant were introduced.

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and received permission from her family to train as a nurse to practise western medicine instead (score 5). Discussants appeared to rate their health according to the seriousness of their illnesses, frequency of being ill, and the degree to which illness affected their carrying out activities of daily living. The following excerpts from the discussion on health illustrate the rating gradient: Score 10: I can say 100 %; I should say one hundred and ten percent, because I’ve not known the doctor’s door for many years now (Middle-age mixed group, employed, 40 years). Score 9: I give myself [a score of] 9, because I can’t remember getting sick except for normal things like headache or flu (Youth group, high school pupil, 18 years). Score 5: I am not at all healthy; I am a chronic suffering from bone sickness. … I can’t live without [daily] medication. … But I do wake up, do my chores with this sickness with the help of the medication I am taking. So I rate myself at 5 (Women’s group, teacher, 46 years). Score 0: I am sick, not healthy at all; I don’t see myself as a person. … I have lost weight, I don’t see flesh, only bones. I am illiterate, never went to school (Men’s group, unemployed, 59 years). 2.1.2.3 Achieving in Life ‘How satisfied are you with what you are achieving in life?’ The discussion of achievements was very similar to the initial discussion of the PWI item referring to life satisfaction. Many participants in the study enumerated their achievements in life relative to their personal goals. Material success in life dominated most discussions. Discussants were generally more satisfied if their accomplishments matched society’s expectations of people at their stage in life. The younger groups tended to focus on education, school sports, and job-related achievements. One of the better-off youth, who had been given a scholarship to attend one of Grahamstown’s boarding schools, reported that he had travelled to other South African cities with his sports team and had even been given the rare opportunity to travel overseas, ‘which was a great achievement for me’ (score 9). Another youth in the group included the Xhosa rite of transition to manhood among his achievements, despite being mocked by other discussants: ‘This thing of becoming a man, going through initiation school in the bush, where, no, it’s not so [un]common that people lose their lives there. But I went and came back without any problems’7 (Employed, 19 years, score 7). The adult discussion groups focused mainly on parenting and material success. Success in life was God-given according to the women. A female teacher, who described herself as a person of faith, never doubted, now that she lived in the house she and her husband had built, that she would one day be able to buy a car (score 8). Virtues, such as toughness to cope with suffering and setbacks in life, were achievements that counted at all stages of life. A young woman, whose father had died when she was only six, recalled that she still managed to go to school: ‘I’d wait for my mother’s pension day to be able to get new shoes and go to school’ (19 years, score 6). The older 7

Every year scores of young men lose their lives in botched circumcisions carried out in the Eastern Cape, even though the province’s circumcision schools have been regulated since 2001. In 2013, thirty initiates died in the Eastern Cape during the summer initiation season (Makinana 2013).

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men, who were materially worse off than others in the study, were satisfied with their hardiness and longevity, which they regarded as God-given blessings: ‘I thank Him for keeping me alive, giving me the strength to face the challenges of taking care of the whole family’ (Cleaner, 41 years, score 6). Dissatisfaction in all age groups resulted mainly from financial dependency and not meeting age-graded expectations of material success. ‘It is hard to be on your own, depending on gifts and asking from others since our mother’s death, as she was our source of income’ (Unemployed woman in the middle-aged group, score 5). As was the case when discussing life satisfaction, the women reflected on the stories of their lives. They mainly thought they had moved up in the world from rural poverty to a reasonably comfortable living standard in town. ‘I am satisfied because I never thought I would have what I have now’ (Cashier, score 8). 2.1.2.4 Personal Relationships ‘How satisfied are you with your personal relationships?’ Discussants understood personal relationships as friendships and trust relationships with members of their family, neighbours, friends, people from work and church. Relationships were a delicate matter and called for mutual respect and trust. Good personal relationships were variously defined as being friendly, supportive, and working hand in hand with others. Mention was often made of how badmouthing of others, gossip, and loose talk could ruin good relationships among friends, neighbours, and fellow workers. Those who gave themselves a high score often described themselves as very capable of relating well to others, being a ‘people’s person’—talkative but not a gossiper—and not holding grudges. Very few discussants made specific mention of an individual trust relationship. One who did was a young woman who said she relied on her sister for guidance and advice. A very religious member of the women’s group spoke of her relationship with God who, she said, also ‘presided’ in her marriage with her husband (Teacher, 40 years, score 8). Most discussion groups talked of community relationships, that is, how to achieve ‘togetherness’ and live in harmony with neighbours. ‘My relationship begins in my community’, declared a member of the mixed group that spoke exclusively about their relations with neighbours. Mutual assistance among neighbours was a social norm. The group of women expected to be able to turn to neighbours if they ran short of tea or sugar, or needed help in times of sorrow or need. The better-off members of the women’s group spoke of difficulties they had in providing assistance to less fortunate neighbours without being taken advantage of. One of the older men talked about residents coming together to bring crime under control in his neighbourhood. A member of the women’s group pointed out that many in her group were not originally from town. ‘If anything happens to you, the first person to come to your rescue will be your neighbours’ (Domestic worker, 44 years, score 5). Neighbours’ willingness to assist in times of need would indicate in what esteem you were held in the community. Personal Relationships Lost in Translation The participants in our focus group study were asked to discuss ‘personal relationships’ translated as ‘ubudlelwane’. Only in the group of the more outspoken and sophisticated tertiary-educated youth did the facilitator broach the question of whether the meaning of the English phrase ‘personal relationships’ might have been lost in translation in the SASAS surveys.

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As had the other groups, the students initially defined ‘ubudlelwane’ as ‘the way you interact with others’, as being friendly and getting along with others. Good ‘ubudlelwane’ was about being generous, helpful, and showing respect. The facilitator then probed further and asked the students what they understood by the ‘personal relationships’. The students were agreed that the English concept of ‘personal relationships’ was broader than ‘ubudlelwane’. It extended beyond casual friendships and community relations to the more intimate type of relationship that the students referred to as ‘isidyolo’ or ‘affairs’. The group then went on to discuss their experiences of relating to members of the opposite sex and personal relationships with boy- and girlfriends. Noteworthy is that the students’ satisfaction scores were now different from their previous evaluations of ‘ubudlelwane’ relationships. Student: A ‘relationship’ goes in many ways. It depends. For instance, it could be ‘isidyolo’ (sexual affair) on the one hand, and also a relationship with this guy who is my friend, on the other hand. Facilitator: So the word ‘relationship’ when compared to ‘ubudlelwane’ only differs from ‘isidyolo’ (having an affair)? Student: Yes, that alone. Facilitator: So if it is ‘ubudlelwane’ that does not include having an affair? (Group affirms: Yes that’s so). 2.1.2.5 Personal Safety ‘How satisfied are you with how safe you feel?’ This item generated much discussion. Both young and old expressed concern about their physical safety on the streets and in their homes. Based on personal and vicarious experience of crime, they concluded that ‘safety is a very scarce thing’ and ‘it is not safe anywhere.’ Three of the five members of the youth group had personal experience of being attacked and robbed while walking the township streets. Only the young male victim had managed to escape his three attackers: ‘I’m good at running and so they didn’t catch me’ (score 9). One of the young women had had her shoes stolen, ‘They took my Truworth’s tekkies and I came back barefoot’ (score 1). The other girl was so traumatised after being robbed of her money to pay for electricity that she never felt safe after the incident: ‘Even at home I’m shivering when I’m alone’ (score 3). Some youth said they felt safer walking in township areas where they were known and also knew the bad elements. Others thought knowing the thugs in your own area did not make you feel safe. ‘Although some tsotsis [gangsters] know me …it’s easy for them to send the one I don’t know to do the job’ (Young woman, 19 years, score 4). The men in the study were generally less fearful than the women. A 38-year-old man in the mixed group, who scored 8 on safety, said he felt free to walk in the streets and was not afraid of tsotsis. His secret was to show respect to others which, he believed, encouraged reciprocity. The students thought young people should be adult enough to protect themselves against victimisation. ‘At my age, I should be a responsible person and protect myself. Like not walk around at night’ (Male student, 20 years, score 8). The older groups spoke about the crime situation in South Africa in general. They were of the opinion that crime had escalated as a result of youth unemployment and drug abuse. Thieves were brazen and calculating—‘They are always thinking ahead of you’.

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Unemployment had created thieves of township children who stole to pay for alcohol and drugs. There were too many taverns and their owners supplied liquor to under-age youth. When drunk, children were easy targets for tsotsis. The police were corrupt and provided no protection. They were often complicit in crime. ‘They drink liquor with the thieves we complain about.’ As a result, criminals were not arrested, let alone convicted or sentenced. The older discussants reported they felt vulnerable in their homes. According to the women, ‘housebreaking is very common, robbing and killing as well’ (score 0). Similarly, the men spoke of ‘horrible things like belongings stolen and people get tied up with ropes’ (score 3). Government-issue RDP houses were security risks. One of the men faulted the government for failing to ‘build us proper houses with ‘burglars’ [burglar bars].’ He also complained that ‘fencing in our yards is not the same as those of people living in town’ (score 5). Others reported that the doors of their RDP houses were so swollen after it rained, that they could not be closed or locked for protection. One of the women discussants proactively made a deal with the tsotsis in her area and scored 9 on safety. ‘I told them that if anything happens in my house, they will be the first people to point out to me the ones that did it. So I am protected by the very ones who cause trouble for others!’ Another woman, who also gave herself a score of 9, said she had never been a victim of crime. She relied on her faith for protection. ‘I can say it’s God who protects us from all dangers and we must persevere through scary nights.’ Only one discussant in the student group, the daughter of a policeman, referred to financial security instead of physical safety. She may have wanted to create a diversion after the group learnt that her father was a policeman and joked that she must feel particularly safe from crime. She countered that she also lived in a safe environment. Then she deftly changed the subject to financial security: ‘Another area of security is money.’ She reported that her parents provided financial security for her (score 8). Noteworthy is that safety concerns cropped up in other discussions. Safety and security was uppermost in the mind of the young woman who had been robbed of her electricity money. When discussing living standards earlier on, the 17-year-old was indignant that girls in her community were exposed to abuse. ‘We are gangster targets …we easily get raped and it is hard to wear mini-skirts without being misjudged’. Similarly, in another discussion, one of the women spoke of fear of crime as a health risk. ‘Our community is full of young rapists … robbery is very common and this contributes to high blood pressure.’ 2.1.2.6 Community Connectedness ‘How satisfied are you with feeling part of your community?’ The adults in the mixed group pointed out that the PWI items on personal relationships and community belongingness were almost identical. To be part of your community is to be part of others. This is similar to the previous question that deals with relationships. When I think about it, to me it’s connected to and similar to ‘ubudlelwane’ (relationship). I can say it’s the same thing as relationship, like sharing problems together in the community. Other groups defined community connectedness along the same lines, namely as the personal relationships they’d discussed earlier. Feeling part of the community was

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understood as feelings of belonging, identifying with other members of your community, mutual respect, and sharing and helping others. It is about partnership and togetherness with your neighbours (Mixed group). Being part of your community is good, especially working together (Men’s group). I am not on my own, alone, but I feel I am part of others in my community (Student group). Participating in community activities, including ceremonies and African rituals, was considered very important. ‘I support whatever event that takes place in my community or help whoever is in need’ (Female student, 30 years, score 9). The overlap between examples of good community and interpersonal relationships was evident in the descriptions of community connectedness by members of the youth discussion group: In my area we are able to help each other; no one talks behind you, or badly about you (score 9). Everybody I come across, I greet and talk with (score 9). In my community, there’s no one I don’t communicate with (score 8). In several groups the discussion on community connectedness referred directly or indirectly to the concept of African humanism, ‘unbuntu’. I think it means to be one of them, where ever you are, belonging in that group or area. … (In my area) people have ‘ubuntu’ (Male student, score 9). With us black people, one does not live on your own but with all those who surround you. If you encounter a problem, it does not stay as yours alone but with all those around you (Teacher in the women’s group, 46 years, score 8). The women’s group was the only one to consider the association between personal, community, and national identity. One of the teachers (score 9) declared: ‘I am satisfied to be part of my community and be a Xhosa.’ The other women all confirmed that they were proud to be Xhosa and black South Africans. The men limited their discussion to political participation at the community level. While they fully supported voting as a community, they were sceptical about the outcome. Being part of your community is good, especially working together… We work together in voting [for] that particular organisation or person who will take care of our needs (score 4). The vote brings you nothing because the government is dragging its feet (score 0). 2.1.2.7 Future (financial) Security ‘How satisfied are you with your future (financial) security?’ The discussion on future financial security tended to stay in the present. Many of the younger discussants were still dependent on their families for financial support and reviewed their current financial situation. Some were optimistic that the investment in their education would secure their financial future. Others, who were dependent on a single parent or a grant beneficiary, were less optimistic.

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Similarly, the adults were too concerned about the present to worry about the future. Unemployment and health problems had undermined the older men’s current and future prospects of financial security. Most discussants complained about the rising cost of living and the burden of many dependants. They had difficulties making ends meet let alone saving for the future. A member of the middle-aged group’s description of her future financial security speaks for many: There’s nothing I can say about money, because I don’t have it. I’m only assisted by the child grant money that does not last long and I will resort to money loans that I battle to repay. The piece jobs don’t take me that far; it only goes to food and I depend on relatives and friends for clothes. I’m very poor on the issue of saving for the future (score 2). A number of discussants said they had a bank account in name only as they were not able to save. Their wages and social grants were exhausted after they had serviced their loans and debts. Two discussion groups voiced their distrust in banks and worried about the security of their bank accounts. One of the older men reported that it was not uncommon for deductions to be made from your account without your knowledge. Bank officials were known to be corrupt. ‘You are fortunate if the year goes by without your losing money.’ Many social pensioners made a habit of withdrawing the full amount of their pension because they feared losing their money. A lead discussant in the middle-aged group thought that black South Africans lacked a savings culture: ‘Us blacks, we don’t really know how to invest. We are not a money-saving group. Savings and investing are two different things that both demand a person be disciplined.’ The other members of the group admitted that their individual and group efforts to save with food stamps and through savings clubs had not been successful. ‘We’ve tried it as a group to save in stamps but could not keep it up long’ (Female staff nurse, 43 years, score 4). 2.1.2.8 Spirituality or Religion ‘How satisfied are you with your spirituality or religion?’ The two concepts of religion and spirituality appeared to be used interchangeably by participants in the study. Interestingly, participants in the two younger groups and the middle-aged mixed group spontaneously referred to both their Christian beliefs and their traditional beliefs in the ancestors. I believe that God and my ancestors work hand in hand for my well-being (Female, 20 years, score 8). I also believe in my religion and traditional customs … (Female, 19 years, score 9). I personally don’t believe in ancestors but rather believe in God (Female, 30 years, score 9). I follow the Apostolic religion where my faith is now, as much as I still respect the ancestral belief (Female, 43 years, score 10). Discussants described the strength of their religious beliefs, their religiosity, and spoke of their feelings of upliftment when participating in religious services and rituals for the ancestors. ‘When I’m in church I feel moved and uplifted spiritually and I feel that I’m in a right place where I belong’ (Female, 17 years, score 9).

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An important aspect of faith was the belief that prayers and petitions for assistance and protection would be answered. When you are a believer and trusting in God and in prayers, you become very strong (Male, 40 years, score 10). I believe that when that traditional ritual is done for me at home, everything will go right. Also, spiritually, if I kneel down in my room praying for something, I know eventually I will receive it (Male, 22 years, score 10). Not all discussants expected an immediate response to prayers and petitions. Some were prepared to be patient. For example, a member of the women’s group explained: ‘When I pray, I believe it will happen no matter how long it takes’ (score 10). One of the female students thought the ancestors’ response was quicker. ‘On the ancestors’ side, rituals are performed and good results follow. … God does heal you when you pray, but as God, he has his own way and takes his own time’ (score 8). Most of the respondents rated their spirituality and religiosity positively. ‘I am very much satisfied because I am a believer’ (score 10). Only five discussants rated their satisfaction below the mid-point of the scale. Those who lacked faith or were less confident that their prayers would be answered were among the low scorers. A female student who had doubts about her faith gave herself a score of 3: ‘When I pray for three or more days, it so happens that what I prayed for does not come true … There are times I no longer believe and lose hope or feel discouraged.’ A further low scorer (score 2) was an unemployed discussant in the men’s group whose financial situation detracted from his religiosity. He had felt obliged to withdraw from active church life when he could no longer afford to tithe. 2.1.2.9 Daily Activities ‘How satisfied are you with your daily activities?’ The item relating to daily activities is not a standard item in the PWI according to the latest guidelines for international researchers published in 2103. It was first proposed as an additional domain shortly before the 2012 round of the SASAS survey went into the field. As any additional domain must meet stringent criteria related to the PWI’s scale construction (International Wellbeing Group 2013), the domain of daily activities was included on a trial basis in the SASAS 2012 quality of life study to review its performance in meeting these requirements in the South African case. The focus group discussions aimed to assist in assessing whether the item might make a useful contribution to the Personal Wellbeing Index as a discretionary optional item.8 In response to the proposed item, discussants described their daily round of activities, often making a distinction between activities at home and at work. Noteworthy, however, is that the first person to open the discussion in the middle-aged group specifically inquired whether the item meant activities at work or in the home. The facilitator explained that it was up to discussants to decide: ‘It’s your day, wherever you are and however you spend it.’ Satisfaction with daily activities was derived from a range of factors. Daily routines provided a rhythm to life. Efficiency and competence when carrying out daily chores and 8

Daily activities were not discussed by the youth who participated in the first focus group session conducted for the study.

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assignments contributed to a sense of achievement. Other discussants stressed the importance of gaining recognition and appreciation from others for their work. Daily Rhythms and Routines Many of the discussants, especially homemakers and the unemployed, sought to establish satisfying daily routines for themselves. ‘On Monday, I’ll wash the blankets, Tuesdays it will be curtains and so forth so that makes me satisfied with what I’m doing daily, like cleaning, cooking, etcetera’ (Middle-aged woman, score 10). Not all routine daily activities were satisfying. Some of the unemployed and student discussants felt restricted by their limited round of activities. Mainly the unemployed complained of boredom with the humdrum and futility of their daily lives. A woman student who was still jobless since graduating grumbled: ‘I wake up early, eat, clean and go back to sleep and watch the movies I watched yesterday. … This bores me ‘(score 1). Another student admitted that her boredom during university vacations was self-inflicted as she lacked self-discipline. ‘Time is an important factor and one needs to be controlled by time in whatever [one is doing]’ (score 6). Although one of the older men’s daily home chores kept him out of trouble, they were dull: ‘There’s nothing much you can do at your place. These become your daily activities as you get used to them’ (score 4). Sense of Achievement and Rewards From Work Fulfilling daily quotas was important for some discussants. One of the students said she took pride in keeping to schedule: ‘I am able to do whatever I planned to do in that day and that makes me satisfied’ (score 6). Similarly, a nurse said she regularly managed to get through her duties both at home and at work and was often able to assist her colleagues to complete their work as well. ‘I do what’s due by me and extend it by assisting others should I finish mine’ (score 10). In contrast, one of the teachers was dissatisfied with her daily activities (score 3) because she regularly brought work home to finish and only got to bed very late. The visible rewards of work contributed to satisfaction with daily activities. One of the unemployed men in the middle-aged group took pride in and derived satisfaction from growing his own produce: ‘My garden is beautiful and my yard is thoroughly cleaned. I have cabbages to harvest next week [and can] also supply my neighbours’ (score 9). The least satisfied were those who felt their efforts were not rewarded sufficiently or appreciated. One of the teachers said although she worked hard, she saw no progress. ‘You are unable to see the difference you’ve made.’ It often felt ‘like you are trying to penetrate into a stone with your finger’ (score 3). A university cleaner complained that she picked up after students day after day: ‘It’s like working for small children when they are adults’ (score 2). The employed women talked of the double burden of working in a job and returning home to do the housework and care for the family. ‘You are up and down doing this and that (at work)…., when everyone comes back home, it will be like you also were at work’ (score 1). Interestingly, there was no mention of dissatisfaction with remuneration for work. In the men’s group, the self-employed shoe repairer berated his inefficiency and soft heart rather than his customers for non- or late payment. ‘People do not pay as agreed and at times I am forced to release shoes so that the school child may be able to wear them to school as I also feel for them. … I cannot do what I want to do efficiently’ (score 3).

3 Reference Comparisons Discussants drew on a range of social comparisons to evaluate their satisfaction in the different domains of life included in the Personal Wellbeing Index. In most cases,

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discussants used the self, usually the past self, as social reference comparison. Other types of reference comparisons appeared to be linked to the specific life domain under discussion. 3.1 Standard of Living The youth often compared their circumstances with age-peers who were more or less fortunate than themselves. For example, a youth who was attending one of the city’s best schools, considered himself fortunate: ‘It happens that a lot of youth of our age find themselves eating out of dust-bins, some get arrested due to their bad deeds…. I’ve never gone to sleep without something to eat and have not done bad things’ (score 10). Youth still at school or university felt they were under-achievers when comparing themselves to age-peers who had jobs or had a family of their own. ‘Others at my age are married with their own children … but because of financial problems we are still under our parents’ roofs’ (Female university graduate, 26 years, score 6). A young woman whose single mother feeds the family of four on a government grant expressed her relative deprivation: ‘Other children have cell phones and I don’t. I live in a poor house and eat umqa (one-pot meal of maize meal with vegetables). Other children’s homes are rich, so I put myself at 3.’ Much to the amusement of fellow discussants who appeared not to take his point seriously, a student discussant who had admitted earlier that he’d never gone to bed hungry in his life, compared his living standard at university and at home: ‘Now that I reside at school, I get everything … in the township we only have a meal once a day but at school we all get three meals in a day!’ (score 8).9 The professional male nurse in the middle-aged group may have been an exception when he chose personal development as his reference standard against which to compare his standard of living: ‘I’ve got everything I ever thought of having. I have two cars, this house, my wife and kids, a good job, [I’m] educated enough with my Honours degree, but I still wish for a Master’s degree and still want to reach there’ (score 9). 3.2 Personal Health South Africa aims to achieve an AIDS-free generation of youth in the foreseeable future. In our study, an HIV-negative status served as a reference standard for good health for the older youth, although the illness was not mentioned by name. The student who opened the discussion on health told her group: ‘I see that I’m healthy. There are nowadays sicknesses that we as youth are faced with but there are clinics that we can get treatment from and get better and beautiful’ (score 8). The next discussant proudly announced he was HIVnegative: ‘Even this year I tested three times and I’m still good health-wise’ (score 9).

9

Although the youth group joked about this comparison, many quality-of-life studies note the importance of food consumption. Camfield (2010) reports that Ethiopian children in her study defined their poverty status according to the number of meals they consumed a day. The Euromodule (Delhey et al. 2002) includes an item on a cooked meal each day in its list of perceived basic necessities for a decent standard of living. Similarly, Noble and Wright (2013) identified a daily intake of meat, fish or vegetable equivalent as one of the socially perceived necessities of life for South Africans. Several waves of the South African Quality of Life trends study found that quality and quantity of food consumed (‘the food you eat’) made a significant contribution to the personal well-being of South Africans (Møller 1998).

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3.3 Achieving in Life The most common measures of achievement were references to the past self in life stories. In addition, age-peers (‘I can’t complain because others of my age are not where I am’, score 8) and life goals (‘I never thought I would have what I have now’, score 8) served as reference standards. 3.4 Personal Safety All discussants had experience of crime first-hand or vicariously as witnesses, from neighbourhood gossip, and from reports in the media. These sources of information served as reference comparisons. ‘Nothing better is in the papers except for crime and killings of people, as well as abuse’ (Older man, score 3). Among the younger groups, the most common reference comparison was perceived safety in one’s own neighbourhood relative to other township areas. ‘When I am at the location (Fingo Village, his residential area), I know that I am safe because it’s my area [score 9]. But when I am at Joza, I’m not completely safe [score 6]’ (Male student). The older men also made what might be classified as ‘equity’ comparisons in the South African case. They deplored the poor protection against crime that their township houses offered compared with properties in more affluent areas of the city. 3.5 Community Connectedness The youth compared the community spirit among people in their own area with other township neighbourhoods. ‘It wouldn’t suit me to stay here in Extension 4 or 5 because they’re different from those at the lower location, like in the way they do things. At the lower location people have ubuntu (Male student, score 9). The women made national and international comparisons when reflecting on their racial identities. They declared they were happy to be Xhosa and black South Africans, and the most talkative member of the women’s group quipped that she was ‘also satisfied to be a South African who is black as I am used to it by now’. Earlier she had light-heartedly joked that she had once wanted to be a white person or to live in the white community, but ‘I got stuck with it as my parents are black’. Cross-country comparisons of living circumstances discussed by the women were also based on the media. They concluded that South Africans had a better safety net than people living in many other countries which were at war or suffered famine. One of the discussants recalled watching television and how shocked she was to see that a woman, who had no food, was trying to feed her children with cow dung ‘that we use as polish on mud floors’ (score 8). Another discussant concluded that she was satisfied to be a South African knowing that ‘our government does provide for us with the assistance of grant money’ (score 9). 3.6 Future Financial Security The most ubiquitous social comparison was with the current or past self. In the discussion among the mixed adult group, an oblique cross-cultural reference comparison was made to the lack of a savings culture among black South Africans. 3.7 Apartheid Era as Cross-Cutting Reference Comparison Equity considerations that served as reference standards cut across domains. Most groups were concerned about good governance and expressed a sense of entitlement to the benefits

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of the new democracy. The older men unreservedly complained of broken promises and their disappointment in the post-apartheid government. ‘The Bible has made us a lot of promises and God came through in those things. The president promised South Africa a lot of things but none has come through.’ Discussants who had trusted the new government with their vote, felt betrayed. An older man who attributed his high blood pressure to everyday stress, went so far as to blame the government for this condition: ‘You can’t help but think of time wasted supporting this government for the change that never took place. It now seems worse than the apartheid era.’ Table 1 gives an overview of the different social reference comparisons that discussants drew upon when discussing domains in the Personal Wellbeing Index.

4 Use of the Rating Scale The case study afforded insights into the manner in which discussants worked with the 0–10 PWI rating scale. 4.1 Neutral Scores The discussions began with the anchor item for the Personal Wellbeing Index, satisfaction with life as a whole. When reviewing their lives, respondents recalled difficulties and problems as well as opportunities and grace. In most cases, ratings reflected an assessment of how far individuals felt they had advanced in their lifetime. However, the youth initially chose to give themselves a neutral rating on the satisfaction scale. They argued that life had ups and downs, so the good and bad times cancelled each other out. I would say mine is neutral. Life changes and you find bad and good things (score 5). Table 1 Social reference comparisons by domain Domain

Reference comparisons

Standard of living

Age peers Life goals/personal development goals School versus home Apartheid era Equity

Personal health

HIV-status Past self

Achieving in life

Past self Age peers Life goals/personal development goals

Personal relationships

‘People’s person’

Personal safety

Victims of crime Other township neighbourhoods/suburbs Equity

Community connectedness

Other neighbourhoods International comparisons Apartheid era

Future (financial security)

Race comparisons

Spirituality or religion

Believers

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I am partially satisfied and partially dissatisfied. In life there are times when one encounters difficulties and also times when things go easy (score 5). It was only after the facilitator intervened that youth discussants weighed the best against the worst times in their lives and decided on an average score on overall life satisfaction. ‘I’ll put myself at 7 on the scale: This is because bad things happen less than good things.’ With reference to standard of living, a member of the youth group again opted for a neutral score: ‘I can give myself 5 because my way of living differs from time to time.’ 4.2 Numbers Versus Labels The older men who had little or no education were reluctant to make use of the numbers on the scale. Initially, they referred only to the labels for the end and middle anchors. They settled for the ‘completely dissatisfied’ response as the most accurate rating for the miserable and hopeless lives they said they were leading and their poor standard of living. 4.3 Ladders and Horizontal Scales The PWI satisfaction scales were presented as horizontal ones. Earlier research found that results do not differ if scales are presented as vertical ladders or as horizontal scales (Mazaheri 2006; Mazaheri and Theuns 2006). Interestingly, when discussing achievements in life, one of the older men referred to the horizontal scale on the show card in front of him as a ‘step ladder’: ‘I’m in the middle.’ 4.4 Double Ratings Most respondents gave an overall assessment of their perceived safety. A number of the younger discussants said they felt safer on the streets of their own neighbourhood than elsewhere. One of the students insisted on giving two scores, a higher score for safety in his own neighbourhood and a lower score for a more notorious neighbourhood. Safety in his own neighbourhood scored a higher 9, the other neighbourhood only 6. When asked by the facilitator to give an average rating, he opted for 5, which is not the arithmetic mean. The male nurse in the middle-aged group who gave two scores for daily activities arrived at a better approximation of an average rating of his daily activities. ‘When at work I’m satisfied 100 %; at home I give myself 50 %. I’m a little lazy here at home.’ In response to a request for an average score, he replied: ‘All in all, I’ll give myself 7.’ 4.5 Nuanced Ratings Ratings tended to be nuanced. Discussants often allowed space for what some quality-oflife scholars have called ‘strivings’ for future accomplishments in life (Emmons 1986). For example, a female student qualified a satisfaction rating of 8 for achievements as follows: ‘I could be placing myself at 10 but I have not yet achieved all I wanted to have achieved by now. Like if I was employed and with my own car, I would say I’ve succeeded in life.’ Similarly, a man in the mixed group concluded his life review by saying: ‘So, basically I’m satisfied with my life as a whole. I can’t say completely, hence put myself at 8.’

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5 PWI Satisfaction Ratings Participants in the study rated their life and domain satisfactions in the course of discussing their understanding of the PWI items. A PWI score was calculated for each participant by averaging satisfaction scores for eight domains excluding the new domain of daily activities. Table 2 shows levels of satisfaction with life and the PWI differ markedly between groups. In Table 2, the group of older men who were unemployed and barely scraping a living, scored far below the mid-point of the scale on both life satisfaction and the PWI. They unanimously insisted on a zero-rating of their overall life satisfaction and their standard of living. The mixed-gender group of adults scored highest with an average score above 8 on life satisfaction and above 7 on the PWI. On average, the middle-aged women scored slightly lower on the two measures than the two younger groups. 5.1 Domain Scores There appeared to be greater convergence among groups when rating PWI domains as shown in the top section of Table 3. Spirituality, personal relationships and community connectedness attracted higher ratings than material domains referring to living standard and financial security. As might be expected, the younger groups rated their health better than the older groups, with the exception of the mixed-gender group of adults which scored above average on all domains except financial security. 5.2 Rank Order Well-being ratings obtained from the small number of individuals participating in this study must be regarded as approximations. However, it is noteworthy that the pattern of PWI scores from the focus group study by and large matches the one obtained in the 2012 SASAS national survey. Both studies were conducted during the same time period. The SASAS 2012 PWI score of 62.6 (Roberts et al. 2013) compares favourably with the score of 60 for our focus group study (Table 2). The bottom section of Table 3 shows that the rank order of domain scores is similar in our focus group study and SASAS 2012, with spirituality ranking highest and the two material domains of living standard and future financial security ranking lowest.

Table 2 Average scores: life satisfaction and Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) by discussion group (optimal score = 100) Focus group discussion with

Life satisfaction

PWI

Youth

42

64

Students

66

66

Middle-aged women

48

57

0

30

Older men Mixed middle-aged men and women

88

75

Total sample (n = 23)

50

60

Life satisfaction and PWI domains were measured on an 11-point scale of 0–10 The PWI is calculated for 8 domains and excludes daily activities. Average scores are multiplied by 10

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48

0

88

Women

Men

Adults

Averagea

b

a

59.7

7

56.8

7

42.3

72

0

28

68

44

Standard of living

3

71.7

5

57.7

78

23

50

74

64

Personal health

6

57.5

4

64.9

74

35

78

74

64

Achieving in life

Personal Wellbeing Index: domains

2

71.9

2

69.4

80

80

68

38

82

Personal relationships

Source for South African PWI scores: unpublished data from the SASAS 2012 survey

Average of group scores

Rank

Average

South Africab

Rank

48.7

66

Students

Focus groups

42

Youth

Groups

Life satisfaction

5

57.9

6

54.4

77

20

55

66

54

Personal safety

Table 3 Comparative average PWI domain scores and rank order: focus groups and South African PWI

4

63.6

3

69.1

90

23

85

84

64

Communityconnectedness

8

46.7

8

33.3

34

13

10

52

58

Future (financial) security

1

75.6

1

75.8

96

50

85

66

82

Spiritualityreligion

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In the national study, the three domains with the highest item-total PWI correlation coefficients were ones connoting material well-being: Standard of living, achievements in life, and future financial security, in that order. Similarly, our focus group study found that material aspirations dominated the discussion of life satisfaction and achievements in life.

6 Group Dynamics 6.1 Lead Discussants Focus group discussions lend themselves to studying group dynamics. We speculated whether the individual who was the first to pick up the discussion might act as the opinion leader and influence the tenor of the discussion and the ratings that the other discussants gave themselves. To check this possibility, we listed the order in which individuals participated in the discussion of each of the PWI items against the scores they gave themselves. The optimal ‘leader’ score of 9 was assigned to a respondent who was the first to respond to the 9 topics under discussion, i.e. overall life satisfaction and the eight domains that make up the PWI. The highest leader score of 7 was achieved by the cashier in the women’s group who opened the discussion for 7 of the 9 topics, followed by the professional male nurse in the mixed group who opened the discussion of 6 topics. When the first and second individuals to respond were considered as the lead discussants, the mix was diluted: No single person achieved a cumulative score of over 4.5 and most group discussions featured dual or triple lead discussants who shared the leader role. Important for the discussion here, is that lead discussants were not necessarily of higher social standing in terms of education, occupation or residential area. The most even distribution of lead discussants was observed among the students. The women’s discussion was held in the more spacious home of one of the teachers in the group. Noteworthy is that this teacher, the hostess and youngest in the group, graciously allowed the cashier to assume the leadership role. 6.2 ‘Lagger’ Discussants We also counted the times that an individual participant was the last in the group to enter the discussion of the nine topics. ‘Laggers’ in each group were the individuals who most often were the last to enter the discussion of any topic. The role of lagger was shared between two or three discussants in the groups made up of youth, women, and the mixed group. A university drop-out assumed the role of lagger for five topics in the student group. A squatter camp resident in the men’s group was the most prominent lagger who spoke last on eight of the nine topics. Important for our study, is that we did not observe outliers in the PWI scores of the prominent leaders and laggers. The scores that individuals assigned to life domains appeared to reflect their own perceptions of their life circumstances. Skilful moderating of the discussions may have been partly responsible for study participants feeling free to openly discuss their personal life experiences.

7 Discussion The Personal Wellbeing Index is currently one of the main measures of choice for international quality-of-life scholars. It is important that the measure is comparable when

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applied to different populations and cultures. Our qualitative focus group study probed the meanings of items in the isiXhosa version of the PWI and how well the domains reflect the personal quality of life experienced by one of South Africa’s largest language groups. In effect, the focus group discussions were instrumental in conducting a second-level deconstruction of PWI domains for an isiXhosa speaking community. To our knowledge, the PWI has seldom been used to guide focus group discussions on quality of life (an exception is Eckermann et al. 2014). The case study involved five focus groups and 23 participants. Their discussions were open and frank. Although the discussants were not known to each other before they met and some of the groups included people from different walks of life, the discussants shared their hopes and fears, successes and failures in life. There appeared to be no shame in disclosing that one lived in a less affluent neighbourhood or a leaking government-issue house. And there was an even balance between placing the blame for misfortune on oneself and external factors. While the members of one group admitted that they lacked selfdiscipline when discussing their future financial security, the older group of men blamed the government for most of the problems in their lives. 7.1 Best Understood Items in the PWI Results suggest that comprehension was greatest for the domains of living standard, health, personal safety, and religion/spirituality. The straightforward evaluation of future security can be attributed to the South African specification that future financial security was indicated. 7.2 Problematic Items Personal relationships and community connectedness (‘feeling part of your community’) were regarded as near identical or at least very similar concepts. There may be language and well as cultural explanations for the perceived overlap between the two domains. The isiXhosa translation for personal relationships appeared to exclude the most intimate type of personal relationships and study participants tended to refer to interpersonal relations with a wider social circle of friends, neighbours, co-workers, and people they met in the street. The African collectivist ethic of ‘ubuntu’, literally human-ness, or human kindness, states that an individual becomes a person through other human beings. It became apparent that the discourse on personal relationships and ‘being part of the community’ centred on how well discussants were living up to this collectivist ideal. Thus personal relations appeared to be conflated with community relations. Scores for both items were also similar.10 7.3 Religion and Spirituality The International Wellbeing Group has debated whether this domain should be included in the PWI (Tiliouine et al. 2009; Webb 2009; Wills 2009). Since our study was completed, religion/spirituality has been excluded from the index and designated an optional domain for international researchers (International Wellbeing Group 2013). Religion plays an 10 The low scores on personal relationships by youth are from a second round of scores produced for a different translation that connoted a more intimate type of personal relationship, e.g. with boy- or girlfriends.

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important role in South African society. The religion/spirituality domain has contributed significantly to the PWI in SASAS surveys conducted since 2009 (Roberts et al. 2013). The participants in the focus group study had no difficulties in evaluating their religious and spiritual life. An earlier version of this PWI item referred only to satisfaction with religion; spirituality was added later to accommodate more secular beliefs. An unexpected finding emerged in our study of the religion/spirituality domain. Discussants understood the cue to embrace both their Christian and traditional religious beliefs and unreservedly discussed their simultaneous appreciation of both belief systems. This finding points to the importance of dual religious identities of South Africans, which is generally overlooked when collecting background information in sample surveys. A question still to be resolved in future research is which of the two concepts, ‘religion’ or ‘spirituality’, evoked the association with traditional African beliefs and rituals, and whether the earlier version of this optional PWI domain would have signified only Christian beliefs and practices. 7.4 Daily Activities The focus group study also examined the understanding of a new domain that might be included in future applications of the PWI internationally. It has yet to qualify as a core or optional domain. The item, daily activities, appeared to be well understood although one discussant did inquire whether activities at home or work were to be evaluated. Judging from the discourse, daily activities seemed to be understood mainly as weekday or workday activities. Discussants felt free to talk about all daily activities in paid work, work in and around the home, and leisure in the case of students on vacation. Employed women talked about their dual commitments at work and at home. No mention was made of hobbies or after-hours work. It seemed that the focus was on daily activities that were productive, worthwhile, or virtuous in the sense of contributing to prosperity and selfrespect. This focus on productive daily activities may be unique to the South African setting. 7.5 The PWI Scale The less educated focus group discussants initially had difficulties with the scale. The neutral mid-point appeared to present an easy option for many discussants. The label ‘neutral’ displayed above score 5 on the scale in the show card may have played a role in attracting scores of 5, which accounted for some 12 % of ratings. Since our study was completed, the new unipolar PWI rating scale from ‘no satisfaction at all’ to ‘completely satisfied’ that omits the ‘neutral’ anchor has been approved for use in international surveys (International Wellbeing Group 2013). Results from our small case study suggest that the omission of the ‘neutral’ anchor may discourage mid-point heaping. 7.6 PWI Scores Although our case study was a very modest one in terms of number of participants, it nonetheless produced satisfaction ratings that matched nationally representative ones from the 2012 SASAS survey. Religion and social connectedness were rated as most satisfying aspects of life in both studies, while the material domains indicated by living standard, achievements and future financial security depressed subjective well-being.

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The quotations in the report clearly show that the manner in which discussants evaluated domains of life in their own words was reflected in their PWI scores. ‘Lead’ discussants and ‘laggers’, the first and last to enter the discussions, did not appear to score differently from others. 7.7 Reference Comparisons for PWI Scores Although not originally part of the plan for the study, the focus group discussions produced information on how PWI ratings are influenced by social comparisons. Our analysis of reference standards for the evaluation of domains suggests that past self and age peers serve as the most common social comparisons for material domains such as living standard, future financial security and achievements. Differences between neighbourhoods served as key references for safety and community connectedness. Unsurprisingly, given South Africa’s history of racial inequality and apartheid, we also detected subtle references to equity as a reference standard for comparison in line with Michalos’ (1986) Multiple Discrepancies Theory. 7.8 Life Satisfaction Unlike many other conventional global measures of subjective well-being that specify the present time (e.g. ‘these days’), the PWI’s life satisfaction measure, which serves as the anchor for the index, lacks a time frame. Given this omission, many of the discussants in our study conducted a life-course review of their quality of life, most evident in the narratives of the middle-aged and older respondents. 7.9 Limitations and Recommendations for Further Research A focus group study is by definition limited in scope. Although we included a diverse group of isiXhosa speakers in our study, their numbers obviously preclude generalisation to population. This preliminary study represents a first exploration of how the PWI is understood by isiXhosa speakers. Future comparative research among the other South African language groups is needed to identify consensus and difference in the meanings assigned to PWI domains in the total population. A question for further international research is whether the fusion between the domains of personal relationships and community connectedness is unique to the Xhosa people or found in other societies that still hold strong collectivist values. 7.10 Concluding Remarks I noticed from our discussion it is not myself alone that experiences certain problems or hardships, but there are others as well, and that takes some of the load off my shoulders (Unemployed female university graduate, 26 years). The main objective of conducting this case study was to ensure that results from the South African PWI are internationally comparative in the sense that survey respondents are evaluating domains that convey the same meanings as in other societies. In the process of pursuing this objective, we have collected rich data on the evaluation of life in the South African setting. When reporting our qualitative study, it seemed important to link the

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understanding of PWI domains in the isiXhosa translation to their ratings. We have done this by citing excerpts from the discussions to convey shades of meaning that may be unique to South Africa. However, it is also possible that many portrayals of a life of quality in South Africa may have their counterparts in other countries where the PWI serves as a tool to measure subjective well-being. It is hoped that PWI scholars will in future not only compare scores across countries but will also delve deeper into the local meanings of the core domains that are used internationally to define a life of quality. Acknowledgments The study was conducted with generous incentive funding from the South African National Research Foundation (NRF), Grant 85343, as part of the cooperative research programme on Quality of Life in South African and Algeria: A Multi-Method Approach (NRF Grant UID 77926). Views expressed are those of the researchers and should not be attributed to the NRF or others.

Appendix See Table 4. Table 4 Sample characteristics

Frequency Gender Men

10

Women

13

Age 17–30 years

10

38–45 years

9

46–60 years

4

Average age: 35 years Education None—lower primary

4

Some secondary education

5

Final year secondary education

5

Some tertiary education/teachers training college

6

University degree

3

Occupation In school/training

8

Unemployed

6

Unskilled worker

5

Professional Total n

4 23

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