Community-based Interventions and Personal Wellbeing: Englefield Green Village in Surrey, UK as a Case Study

Community-based interventions have the potential to improve human health and wellbeing, with some activities, such as gardening clubs, also helping to improve the local environment. This study aims to investigate the impact of community-based interventions on personal wellbeing using standard metrics, including stress level (PSS-10), anxiety level (GAD-7), and mental wellbeing (WHO-5), taking community groups based in Englefield Green Village in Surrey, UK, as a case study. The results show better personal wellbeing profiles for those who engage with community-based interventions compared to those who don’t. This underscores the potential of community-based interventions in supporting better personal wellbeing. However, the activities under investigation in this study, such as a beekeeping club and a gardening club, only attract a minority of the village's population, mainly older, retired residents and the unemployed. These are, however, the demographics that tend to need the most support to improve their wellbeing. The study also reveals that younger generations aged below 40 who engage in the community-based interventions have less favourable wellbeing profiles than the older generations. However, most residents within the catchment area who fall into this demographic are not attracted to the current activities on offer and may require activities and the spaces in which they take place to be more tailored to their own interests. The study also points out the challenges facing community-based interventions, such as the lack of volunteers, ageing leadership with limited succession choices, and the lack of engagement from most community members.