Can all that counts be counted? Measuring Love as a health determinant in a multi-cultural classroom

Background

While interpersonal relationships are recognised as a crucial determinant of health, the term Love is avoided in evidence-based professions due to difficulties in operationalising this nebulous concept. Sex, in turn, is a taboo matter in many societies, which can hinder Public Health (PH) teaching in multicultural classrooms. Established in Ireland in 2020, the University of Limerick MSc in PH program includes the module “Monitoring & Evaluation in PH” where students work in groups to operationalise key population health concepts into measurable indicators for use in PH research.

Objectives

In February 2026 we piloted an innovative participatory activity to foster reflection about the importance of 1) establishing quantitative measures to track progress across the input-output-outcome continuum, and 2) ensuring a comprehensive account of health dimensions including hard to measure social phenomena. To foster reflection and illustrate these points, we used the concept of Love. Our question was: how can we measure Romantic Love in a meaningful way? In a 3-hour workshop, students reflected individually about different dimensions of Love across diverse philosophical strains of thought (e.g., E. Fromm, O. Paz, U. Galimberti, J. Armstrong). Then, students worked in groups to co-develop an articulated list of variables and indicators.

Results

A total of 12 variables (e.g., Commitment) and 20 indicators (e.g., Expected relationship duration) were identified. Besides fostering reflection about the importance/limitations of measuring abstract concepts, this exercise fuelled a rich intercultural conversation that fostered a comfortable climate to discuss sensitive PH topics related to intimate partner violence/sexual health (e.g., gaslighting, sexual pressure).

Conclusions

The concept of Romantic Love can be used innovatively in multicultural PH education to foster reflection about measurement of abstract concepts while facilitating discussion of sensitive topics.

Key messages

• Interpersonal relationships are a health determinant but the hard to measure term Love is avoided in PH research. Sex is taboo in many societies, which hinders PH teaching in multicultural classrooms.

• The concept of “Romantic Love” can be used innovatively in multicultural PH education to foster reflection about measurement of abstract PH concepts while facilitating discussion about sexual health.