“Inner Peace is the Good Life’’: Conceptualizations of Subjective Well-Being Among Older Adults Aged 60 and Over in Rural Northern Ghana

Abstract Improving well-being has increasingly become an important policy outcome for governments globally, prompting a focus on its conception and measurement. Existing studies on conceptions of well-being in Ghana have mainly focused on adolescents and adults. Given that Ghana’s population is ageing, exploring conceptions of well-being among older adults is important for improving their well-being. This study explores how older adults aged 60 and above conceptualize well-being and how the socio-cultural context shapes these conceptions in rural northern Ghana, West Africa. We undertook 17 in-depth interviews in a low resource setting in Ghana focusing on community-dwelling older adults from three socioeconomically diverse backgrounds. Interviews were analysed thematically. Overall, older adults conceptualized well-being as multidimensional, largely shaped by their socio-cultural context consisting of: (1) material security, (2) physical and cultural work capacity, (3) health, affect and psychological well-being, (4) religiosity/spirituality, and (5) contributing to others. In this context, a low-arousal positive affect, inner peace, was central to a ‘good life’ in older adulthood. Given the multidimensional conceptualization of well-being and how inner peace was central to the good life, a multi-faceted approach that addresses the different dimensions to ensure emotional stability, resilience and security is required for improving well-being among older adults in Ghana.