This module emphasises the fundamental importance of the skill of resource management in the satisfaction of an individual’s needs. The concepts of wellbeing, needs and wants, resources, values and standards, goal setting, communication, decision-making and management processes explored in this module form the basis of study throughout the course.

How do people describe wellbeing?

• Wellbeing is defined as the degree of satisfaction an individual or group experiences when needs are met. These needs may be social, physical, emotional, cultural and spiritual. Sustained wellbeing contributes to being happy and healthy and can increase an individual’s life expectancy.

• The state of being comfortable, healthy and happy.

So what is the opposite of wellbeing?

Why might there be different understandings of wellbeing?

(Consider characteristics of individuals such as homeless people, people with disabilities, sole parents, young carers, aged, youth, first time parents).

• The wellbeing of individuals and families can be very complex. The set of factors/ characteristics that contribute to wellbeing of one individual or group may not be the same as those for another individual or group.

• These factors influence the range of needs that an individual or group perceive as vital to their life and can be grouped into six broad areas: physical, social, emotional, spiritual, economic and cultural (SPEECS).

• Use your textbook (page 3-4) to briefly summarise the six factors affecting wellbeing.

• • sleep/ rest

  • interaction with others

  • nourishment

  • companionship

  • understanding the difference between right and wrong

  • sense of belonging

  • savings

  • safety

  • friendship

  • moral development

  • goals

  • a positive outlook

  • paid employment

  • job security

  • stable environment

  • shelter

  • self esteem

  • affection

  • love

  • treatment for special needs

  • encouragement

  • leisure and relaxation time

  • adequate level of physical fitness

  • access to educational facilities

Analyse the relationship between the factors and explain how they can impact on wellbeing

Imagine a flower with six petals. If the flower loses a petal, you could say that it wasn’t in the best state. Similarly, if parts of a petal are affected, then you could say that the flower doesn’t look or feel as well as it should. The more petals that are affected, the more ‘ill’ the flower will become or, in other words, the closer the flower will get to illbeing.

The flower can still survive even if one or two petals are affected, but it will not be in the best condition unless all the petals are looked after. The factors that affect wellbeing are like the petals of the flower, if we are not ‘well’ in one, then others can be affected.

For example, if a person is sick with cancer (physical) they may be experiencing a lot of pain and suffering. This may make them less able to cope (emotional) with going out and socialising with their family and friends (social). They may also need to take an extended period off work, which may result in a loss of income (economic). This may also feel that they no longer have a purpose in life (spiritual). Therefore the person (or flower) does not look or feel as well as they should.

Individual

• There are often different understandings of wellbeing within the community. For example, some people in the community may believe that a person with a disability has lowered wellbeing. However, the person in question may have a secure family, good friends and reduced stress compared to others.

• Similarly, a person who has a chronic illness, such as diabetes, may bee seen as having lowered wellbeing, though the diagnosis may have encouraged the person to exercise and improve their diet.

• On the other hand, there are celebrities who are wealthy and loved by their fans, but often their emotional and physical health is a risk.

Group

• A person's wellbeing can affect the wellbeing of others in a group.

• Consider a sporting team that loses its star playing before a grand final. This would affect the role of each player, which may impact on confidence and opportunity to succeed.

• On the other hand, it may challenge a substitute to perform and play to the best of their ability.

Needs:

• • Things that are vital to sustain life

  • For example: food, water, clothing, shelter

Wants:

• • Preferences or desires

  • For example: television, iPhone, car

• mobile phone

• water bottle

• torch

• pocket knife

• rope

• first aid kit

• computer

• pillow

• compass

• sleeping bag

• duct tape

• television

• duct tape

• lighter

• axe

• shovel

• ipod

• flares

• tent

• whistle

• hiking boots

• fishing line

• scissors

• sunglasses

• gloves

• Machete

• bible

• hat

• slingshot

• playing cards

• multi vitamins

• GPS/ map

• batteries

• binoculars

• credit card

• energy bars

Describe each of the specific needs and compare the significance of each to different individuals

What is it?

• Developed in 1954 by Abraham Maslow

• A model used to explain needs, behaviour and motivation

• Hierarchy ranks needs in order of importance

• Not everything on the hierarchy is necessary for survival

• Needs at the bottom need to be met first. For example; a person who has become lost in the bush; they are more concerned with finding food and shelter than writing a poem to explain their feelings.

• As the person meets the lower-order needs, they can begin to work on high order needs.

• Not static; individuals can move up and down

• Not all people have the opportunity to realise their full potential and therefore do not reach the top. However, the closer a person is to self-actualisation, the more likely that person will experience wellbeing

The Hierarchy

• There are 5 levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy:

  • Physiological (food, water and shelter, sleep, rest)

  • Safety (feelings of personal security)

  • Social (sense of belonging, love)

  • Esteem (self esteem, recognition, status)

  • Self Actualization (happy and fulfilled with everything, reaching potential)

Critique Maslow’s hierarchy and debate its relevance and validity after considering contemporary views on human needs

SMART Goals

• SMART is an acronym that breaks down the goal setting process into parts.

• Setting goals is important as it helps to increase the amount of time and effort we put into an activity.

• The better the goals we set the easier it is to come up with strategies to help achieve our goals.

Specific:

• Goals that are to general are more difficult to achieve.

• Specific goals include specific ideas about who, when, where, how or what.

Measurable:

• Measurable goals include a quantity such as ‘how much’ or ‘how many’.

• These amounts make it easier to measure our success in achieving our goals.

Attainable:

• Goals that are too easy will not motivate you enough, goals that are too hard will lead to you giving up.

• Goals should be difficult but achievable.

• You will need to consider factors that may prevent you from achieving your goal.

Relevant:

Make sure the goal matters to you and is not the goal of someone else.

Time based:

• Making sure you have a time frame to complete your goal is important.

• It gives you a deadline to work towards and will allow you to organise your time to complete your goal.

Outline a specific need that is significant to you and explain how goal setting can contribute to the satisfaction of that need.

Resources are things people use to achieve a goal/s.

Human and non-human resources are interrelated. For example:

• The human resource of knowledge is needed to use the non-human resource of money.

• The human resource of time is needed to use and access the non human resource gyms, parks and leisure facilities.

Describe a range of resources and explain how they assist in satisfying specific needs (8 marks)

Intro:

• • Reword the question.

  • Define the two types of resources.

  • Identify SHE SEAS

Paragraph 1:

• • T: Introduce the resource and the need you are going to focus on in this paragraph

  • E: Explain how the resource assists in satisfying the specific need

  • E: Provide at least two examples to support your explanation.

  • L: Link back to the question

Paragraph 2:

• • Repeat the above process using a different resource and need.

Interchangeability of resources

Interchangeability is where one resource can be exchanged for another. In essence, it is the ability to trade resources for others that are of more value to you. For example:

• A teacher earns a salary and may choose to use potential savings to employ a house cleaner. In this way, one person's money buys someone else's time and skills. The cleaner could use the money to meet basic needs or save for a family vacation.

• parents can use money to pay for a babysitter so they have time to go to work and people can use their time to go to work so they can earn money.

• An adolescent completes chores at home in exchange for their parents taking them for a driving lesson.

Propose how resources could be interchanged to enhance wellbeing in a variety of situations

Activity: Response

Describe how the resource you have chosen could be interchanged to enhance wellbeing. (5 marks)

• • Washing machine

For example:

A mother could use a washing machine (resource) on a weekly basis to clean her family's dirty laundry. As a result of using this resource, the mother would have more time (resource) to focus on work as her priority. Exchanging these resources would enhance this mother’s overall wellbeing.

Social wellbeing- mother has more time to interact with other people.

Economic wellbeing- the mother would have more time to focus on work as her priority.

Physical wellbeing- more time to exercise as a result. Allows more opportunity to get an adequate amount of sleep.

• • Babysitter

  • Opal card

  • Vacuum

  • Money

  • Car

  • Phone

  • Laptop

• Resource sustainability: to conserve a resource

• Some non human resources can be partially or wholly consumed through use and are therefore considered non- renewable.

• Non- renewable resources need to be managed carefully to ensure that they are used to their best potential and not wasted.

• Effective resources management relies on people and governments to make carefully considered decisions on how, why and at what rate resources (especially non-human) can be used so that they can be sustained for prolonged use. This can ultimately affect the availability and quality of resources for future use.

• For example: publishing assessments on Google Classroom as opposed to printing them for each student is an example of an environmentally sustainable practice.

Examples of resource sustainability

Preparing a budget in order to monitor where money is spent so that it can be made to last longer and be used for more things.

Record two examples of your own.

Outline strategies to conserve human and non-human resources

Activity One:

You are to create a case study detailing a situation where resources are finite or non renewable. Examples may include but should not be limited to:

• a wilderness emergency situation

• a household situation

• an environmental issue.

You are to then switch you case study with another student and propose strategies to conserve the human and non human resources relevant to the scenario.

Example:

A school camp. Participants can conserve supplies such as water and food by rationing. They can conserve energy by ensuring adequate rest breaks, logical route planning and packing light. They can conserve the environment by ensuring minimal impact procedures are applied. They can sustain motivation by ensuring there is a variety of activities, rest, encouragement and freedom to enjoy the environment.

Activity Two:

Read the following scenarios and discuss strategies that could be implemented to interchange or sustain resources. Make a list of these strategies in your exercise book.

1. Mary and Joe have four young children. They have no family living nearby. Recently Joe became ill and has not been able to work. The family are suffering financially. Mary is unable to find work as she has to care for Joe and the children. The two older children have missed a lot of school because Mary has had difficulty looking after the house, Joe, and the children, without assistance. Mary has excellent computer skills and was employed in the accounting industry prior to having the children. The neighbour’s children attend the same school as Mary’s children

2. There has been a drought recently in the community of Broken Hill. Broken Hill is largely a farming area that provides most of its produce to the surrounding neighbourhoods. Broken Hill relies heavily on regular rainfall as they do not have any other form of irrigation for their crops. There is great community spirit with everyone offering their assistance to sustain the crops. Many of the people own farm equipment and machinery that could be used to assist the farmers. The community have written to large companies asking for their support to maintain the crops during the drought.