Basic Income, its health effects, and the theory of Salutogenesis

Several Basic Income (BI) studies have reported health effects of BI recipients. WHO has defined health (1948) as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. This static health definition does not include spiritual well-being which comprises people’s values, beliefs and the search for meaning. Many health interventions have a pathogenic focus on disease prevention and cure.
The Salutogenic model of health explains how people move between the health/ease and disease/death multidimensional continuum during their life cycles. This includes the Sense of Coherence (SoC) concept with the dimensions of Manageability, Comprehensibility and Meaningfulness which enable humans to move towards the health/ease end of the continuum.
The fungibility of money allows BI recipients to decide how, when and where to spend money to satisfy their needs. People use money to obtain goods and services which can have a positive or negative effect on their health.
Our study summarises whether the identified BI studies reported health effects, and differentiated between physical, social, mental and spiritual health explanations for the observed effects. Based on available data we will analyse whether the dimensions of the SoC are suitable to provide a conceptual understanding of BI's health effects, potential limitations and guidance for future studies.