The Contribution of Personal and Social Resources and Health Behavior to the Subjective Personal Well-being of Social Services Clients

Municipal social services clients are individuals who experience risk, distress, and crisis situations. Consequently, the State of Israel seeks to improve their welfare. To broaden the knowledge base for understanding the factors that contribute to an improved subjective personal well-being among this group in general, and especially against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the current study we examined social services clients’ coping skills from a broad perspective. This perspective encompassed personal, social, and health-related aspects. The research model that was formulated was based on a combination of social capital theory and social systems theory and made it possible for us to use a single comprehensive model to consider the interaction of these aspects.

Social systems theory presents systems as operating via use of a structure that includes the input, the conversion process, and the output (Mobolaji, 2011). According to this built-in model, we reviewed the direct contribution of the input (i.e., the individual’s personal and social resources) to the output (i.e., subjective well-being). Given that social systems theory indicates that the output should be a direct product of the input, but also an indirect product as a result of patterns that influence a person’s behavior, we reviewed whether in this process (the conversion process) people’s personal and social resources contributed to healthful behavior, and indirectly contributed to their subjective well-being.

Based on the above, we had four goals. We aimed to examine: 1. the interaction between social services clients’ background variables and health behavior, and their subjective personal well-being; 2. the interaction of personal resources (i.e., self-mastery and self-efficacy), social resources (i.e., social support and sense of community), and health behavior as related to nutrition and physical activity; 3. the interaction between these personal and social resources and subjective personal well-being; 4. the connection between these personal and social resources and subjective personal well-being, with health behavior as a mediating variable. Prior studies, on a variety of topics, found interactions between each of the personal and social resources and health behaviors reviewed in this study and subjective personal well-being. At the same time, we found no studies that examined the contribution of health behavior as a mediating factor of the link between personal and social resources and subjective personal well-being. In addition, to the best of our knowledge, no researchers have studied the effect of these variables on social services clients. Given that this group experiences crises and distress to a higher degree than do other groups, it is crucial to consider additional ways to help them increase their subjective personal well-being.

The four objectives listed above were used to formulate the study’s hypotheses and research questions. (1.1) Would there be a positive correlation between income, employment level, and healthful behavior (with regard to nutrition and physical activity), and subjective well-being? (1.2) Would there be a difference in healthful behavior and subjective personal well-being in social services clients at different periods of the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., those periods reviewed in the present study) such that being serious about healthful behavior regarding nutrition and physical activity and subjective personal well-being would be lower when the pandemic was spreading than when it was receding? And (1.3) would there be differences in healthful behavior and subjective well-being among social services clients who contacted a social worker during the pandemic with a request for special assistance vs. clients who did not do so? (2) The greater the personal resources (i.e., self-mastery and self-efficacy), and social resources (i.e., social support and sense of community) of social services clients, the greater their health behavior with regard to nutrition and physical activity; (3) The greater the personal resources (i.e., self-mastery and self-efficacy) and social resources (i.e., social support and sense of community) of social services clients, the greater their subjective personal well-being; (4) Would there be an indirect correlation between personal resources (sense of self-mastery and self-efficacy) and social resources (social support and sense of community) in social services clients, linked to healthful behavior (nutrition and physical activity) as a mediating factor, such that the greater the personal and social resources, the greater the healthful behavior and subjective well-being?

We used an online Hebrew and Arabic questionnaire based on Qualtrix software. It had eight subcategories consisting of the following: self-mastery, self-efficacy for healthful behavior, social support, sense of community, health behavior related to nutrition and to physical activity, subjective personal well-being, personal distress, and questions about respondents’ socio-demographic status that included background questions and open questions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

We used a convenience sample, which was obtained after contacting local authorities who utilized the communications methods available to them to reach the respondents. The sample consisted of 327 adult respondents, aged 19-86, who reside in the community and are registered recipients of social services assistance all over Israel. Eighty percent of the sample were women and 20 percent were men. Sixty-three percent were Jews and 37 percent were Arabs.

The research model hypotheses were partially confirmed. Some of the findings reaffirmed findings from other studies conducted among different groups and found that lack of employment, low income, residence in an urban area, and Arab nationality all contributed to decreased concern with health behavior. These variables also contributed to low subjective personal well-being, with the exception of the nationality variable, where no difference was found between Arabs and Jews. Another finding, much like findings from other studies, was that the greater the clients’ personal resources (i.e., self-mastery and self-efficacy) and social resources (i.e., social support and sense of community), the more concerned they were with health behavior (i.e., healthy nutrition and physical activity), and the greater their subjective personal well-being.

In addition, the study makes a unique contribution to the existing research literature, reflected first in the unique background variables of the COVID-19 pandemic that coincided with the research period. We found in analyzing the data that the background variable of social services clients’ healthful behavior and their subjective personal well-being shifted based on the status of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel was a key predictor that clearly divided the research variables into two periods: the period when the virus was spreading and the period when it was receding. During the time when the virus was spreading, and the third lockdown occurred, we were surprised to observe a positive impact on health behavior and subjective personal well-being among social services clients. In contrast, when the pandemic was slowing down, and while most Israelis began resuming their routines, social services clients experienced considerable difficulty, reflected in a decline in health behavior and subjective personal well-being.

In addition, we found that clients who contacted social services for assistance during the pandemic typically demonstrated lower levels of health behavior and of subjective personal well-being than clients who did not request assistance. These findings highlight the fact that indeed social services clients who sought assistance were the ones who needed more assistance. At the same time, these variables did not characterize social services clients who eventually did receive assistance from social services during the period the present study covered.

Another key contribution of the present research relates to the hypothesis that health behavior (healthy nutrition and physical activity) would be a mediating factor between personal and social resources and subjective personal well-being. This hypothesis was partially affirmed. An analysis of a parallel mediating model using PROCESS Macro software in SPSS revealed an indirect correlation between the personal and social resources in the study and subjective personal well-being by way of healthful behavior. Moreover, the highest explained rate in the mediation model occurred when healthy nutrition was a mediating factor between social resources (i.e., social support and sense of community) and subjective personal well-being. These findings reinforce social capital theory and attest to the considerable importance of personal and social resources for social services clients’ subjective personal well-being. Therefore, reinforcing the importance of healthy nutrition, while also strengthening the resources examined in the research (with an emphasis on social resources), is essential for enhancing this particular population’s subjective personal well-being.

Therefore, it seems that the current research model was partially affirmed. The level of input (background variables and personal and social resources) had a positive connection with the level of the change process (health behavior) and with the level of output (subjective personal well-being). At the same time, contrary to expectations, the change process occurred only with regard to healthy nutrition and did not have an effect with regard to the variable of physical activity. In situations where people have lower levels of personal resources, as is usually the case with social services clients, it is possible that maintaining healthy nutrition is an easier task than engaging in physical activity. Healthy nutrition requires that people make adjustments, unlike physical activity which requires people to be proactive. Another possible explanation is that many social services clients engage in physical labor (for their work) and therefore may not feel a need to exercise regularly. In any event, this finding highlights the importance of considering every aspect of health behavior separately and not as a “health behavior” variable.

The research findings reinforce the theory on which the study was based (social capital theory) and confirm the great importance of personal and social resources for social services clients’ subjective personal of well-being. Moreover, the findings make an  additional contribution to  the theory that personal and social resources make a clear and significant contribution to health behavior, as related to healthy nutrition and physical activity, and these resources (along with healthy nutrition) even lead to an improved subjective personal well-being. Thus, the research adds to the cumulative knowledge regarding the complexity of achieving a subjective personal well-being among weaker segments of the population. The study was also based on, and reinforces, social systems theory. Namely, social services clients’ family and social networks make a substantial contribution to enhancing their health behavior and subjective personal well-being.