Well-Being Measurement in Africa: A Systematic Review

The general narrative in well-being measurement is a lack of representation of instruments developed and validated in the African context. However, there is no existing review solely focused on Africa that clearly demonstrates the extent of progress in the field and the current methodological challenges. The present study aims to systematically review and collate evidence on the validation of well-being measures in Africa. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method, a total of 64 research articles were reviewed. The study’s findings showed steady growth in well-being measurement in the African context. However, this growth has not been without challenges that are stifling our general understanding and consensus on how well-being should be measured in Africa. A persistent research gap is the development of new, contextually relevant measures of well-being. Among the recurring methodological challenges were translation issues, poor model fit indices and the use of small samples. We recommend further testing of locally developed well-being measures and their incorporation into international surveys, as cross-country assessments can only yield meaningful insights when the items used adequately capture local experiences. Translation of existing measures is key in accessing hard-to-reach populations, with such data informing clinical and community-based interventions.