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Suicide prevention: policy and strategy
- Author:
- GREAT BRITAIN. Parliament. House of Commons Library
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons Library
- Publication year:
- 2021
- Pagination:
- 87
- Place of publication:
- London
This briefing examines suicide prevention policies and strategies throughout the UK. It outlines national and local approaches to prevention policy in England, as well as Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Section one of this briefing paper provides a statistical overview of suicide rates throughout the UK over time, using the latest data published by the Office of National Statistics in September 2019. This shows that in 2018 there were 6,507 recorded suicides in the United Kingdom. This number of deaths equates to an age-standardised suicide rate of 11.2 deaths per 100,000 population, which is a significant increase on previous years and the highest rate recorded since 2002. It is also, nevertheless, lower than rates recorded in the 1980s and 1990s. The paper covers the following policy areas: health services; education; employment; social security; transport; prisons; media; armed forces. (Edited publisher abstract)
Unemployment and mental health: why both require action for our COVID-19 recovery
- Authors:
- WILSON Heather, FINCH David
- Publisher:
- Health Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2021
- Pagination:
- 17
- Place of publication:
- London
Unemployment has a detrimental impact on mental health, as does poor quality employment. This long read is concerned mainly with unemployment and mental health. Entering the pandemic, unemployment in the UK was at a historic low, but has since begun to rise, and is expected to rise further, as a result of pandemic restrictions. Projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) show the UK unemployment rate reaching 6.5% by the end of 2021, which means an additional 0.9 million people in unemployment compared with before the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, 43% of unemployed people had poor mental health. This was greater than for people in employment (27%) and for people who were on furlough (34%). Workers with existing mental health conditions are also more likely to work in sectors that have had to close due to COVID-19 restrictions, such as hospitality, making them vulnerable to job losses. This will potentially widen the gap in employment rates between those with and those without mental health conditions. Maintaining high employment will be key to the UK’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic – but failing to tackle poor mental health will create a drag on future prosperity. Policies to tackle unemployment should also aim to improve mental health, for example: preventing unemployment arising in the first place through the gradual phasing out of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (rather than a sudden end); ensuring the social security system supports people with poor mental health by providing an adequate income, which (at a minimum) means making the Universal Credit uplift permanent, and tailoring expectations of job seeking activity and support to find work for people with poor mental health; designing employment programmes to support better mental health with personalised interventions for people with mental health problems. (Edited publisher abstract)
Stakeholder consultation as social mobilization: framing Scottish mental health policy
- Authors:
- STURDY Steve, SMITH-MERRY Jennifer, FREEMAN Richard
- Journal article citation:
- Social Policy and Administration, 46(7), December 2012, pp.823-844.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Public and stakeholder consultation is increasingly important in the policy process in the UK and elsewhere. This article reports on a study of the consultation on the Scottish Government's Towards a Mentally Flourishing Scotland: The Future of Mental Health Improvement in Scotland 2008-11 consultation document. The research collected data covering all elements of the consultation process, including observation of stakeholder consultation events and analysis of the 76 written response documents. The article describes the study context and its approach, which used elements of social movement theory and the concept of framing. It reports on and discusses the findings, covering the aim and content of the consultation document and the language used in it and by advocates during the consultation process, and the content and language of written responses. It includes illustrative quotations. The authors argue that consultation can be the first stage in policy implementation and that this consultation served as a means of enrolling, orienting and mobilising stakeholders to implement a largely pre-existing set of policy aims.
Working our way to better mental health: a framework for action
- Authors:
- GREAT BRITAIN. Department for Work and Pensions, GREAT BRITAIN. Department of Health
- Publisher:
- Stationery Office
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 103p.
- Place of publication:
- London
The framework, which focuses on the role of employment in improving mental health and well-being, is the result of joint working between government departments in England, Scotland and Wales, and advice from specialists. It is designed to improve well-being at work for everyone, and to deliver better employment results for people with mental health conditions, supporting them into work, helping them to stay in work, and assisting them to return to work after sickness absences. It identifies 6 key areas for action: changing attitudes to mental health, improving health and well-being at work for the whole population, swift intervention when things go wrong, coordinated help tailored to individuals' needs both in and out of work, building resilience from early years and throughout working lives, and coordinated action across government. The report sets out the government's programme for action on employment and mental health.
New agency for a new era
- Author:
- McPHERSON Ian
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health Today, April 2009, pp.22-23.
- Publisher:
- Pavilion
- Place of publication:
- Hove
Explains the role of the National Mental Health Development Unit (NMHDU), which is becoming the lead agency for supporting the implementation of mental health policy in England.
The determinants of mental health: a qualitative analysis of health policy documents
- Author:
- SOLIN Pia Crista Milana
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 8(2), May 2006, pp.3-11.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This article reports on an exploratory analysis of the determinants of mental health in health policy documents from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, England and Portugal during 1985-2004. Similarities and differences in mental and somatic health were examined, using qualitative content analysis. The results of the analysis are compared with some frequently applied health determinant conceptualisations and with the conclusions of previous research. The article concludes by pointing out that the determinants of mentally and somatic health are constructed differently, which seems to affect the design of health promotion policy.
Investing in mental health
- Author:
- FRIEDLI Lynne
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health Today, October 2005, pp.16-18.
- Publisher:
- Pavilion
- Place of publication:
- Hove
The author discusses the launch, by NIMHE, of the first national framework for improving mental health and well-being in England. It is argued that this may be a sign that public mental health is loosing its marginal status and that government policy making is beginning to address quality of life issues.
Poverty and social exclusion: a way forward
- Author:
- WALES CENTRE FOR PUBLIC POLICY
- Publisher:
- Wales Centre for Public Policy
- Publication year:
- 2022
- Pagination:
- 3
- Place of publication:
- Cardiff
The Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP) was commissioned by the Welsh Government to conduct a review of international poverty and social exclusion strategies, programmes and interventions. WCPP’s review has covered a breadth of evidence, from 'what works' in individual interventions, to what makes an effective national strategy. A total of 18 reports were produced for this project, providing a substantial bank of evidence. This policy briefing aims to bring together this evidence to frame and inform Welsh Government discussions on 'what next' to alleviate poverty and social exclusion in Wales. Taken together, the evidence shows that poverty and social exclusion are highly complex, multifaceted and dynamic 'problems' to address, spanning multiple policy areas, actors and delivery structures. The lived experience of poverty and social exclusion reflects this complexity and volatility - those affected neither view nor experience poverty and social exclusion in discrete policy areas and the nature of their experience changes over time. These 'problems' therefore cannot be effectively addressed through single-step solutions or parallel policy 'silos': an intentionally collaborative, multi-dimensional, flexible and integrated approach is required. What emerges from the evidence reviewed is that any effective anti-poverty strategy in Wales must prioritise and focus on delivery. It must also include a 'policy mix' that responds to the interconnectedness across different policy areas of the problem and experience of poverty and social exclusion. (Edited publisher abstract)
Progress of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health: on the road to parity
- Author:
- ALL-PARTY PARLIAMENTARY GROUP ON MENTAL HEALTH
- Publishers:
- Royal College of Psychiatrists, Rethink Mental Illness
- Publication year:
- 2018
- Pagination:
- 36
- Place of publication:
- London
The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health (FyFV-MH) was a crucial starting point in the journey to transform the lives of people with mental health problems and made 58 recommendations to lay the foundations for parity of esteem by 2020/21. This report presents the findings of an inquiry which sought to establish what progress had been made and where further progress was needed. The FyFV-MH led to new mental health data tracking the proportion of people accessing services covered by the FyFV-MH, and how quickly, by local area. This has transformed the way that the progress of mental health policies can be tracked. The FyFV-MH was a step in the right direction but it did not cover everything. Core mental health services for adults severely affected by mental illness, mental health treatment for older people and early years support for children under five were notable exclusions. The report recommends change in three broad areas that were consistently highlighted as needing urgent attention: investing in core services for adults severely affected by mental illness; increasing the mental health workforce; and better oversight and collective responsibility for mental health. (Edited publisher abstract)
Behavioral limitations of individuals for coping with COVID-19: a terror management perspective
- Authors:
- AHMED Riaz, AHMED Adeel, BARKAT Waseem
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 31(1-4), 2021, pp.97-118.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Authorities and policymakers have been advocating people to follow the traditional personal protective measures (e.g., social distancing) to avoid COVID-19 disease and to reduce its spread further. Based on terror management theory (TMT) and individuals’ bounded rationality (BR), this study designs a conceptual framework to examine psychological limitations of people for obeying the experts’ instructions—particularly, social distancing—during the pandemic. This is because, contrary to “social distancing,” humans subconsciously use centuries-old defense mechanisms—seeking close relationships, validation or modification of cultural worldviews, and enhancement of self-esteem—by “social gatherings” for the sake of buffering their own paralyzing terror of death in time of a large scale mortality salience (e.g., COVID-19). This study argues that in pandemics in which diseases spread due to human interactions, societies need to trade-off between reducing human or economic losses by imposing immediate stringent restrictions on people movements (e.g., lockdowns) versus mitigating pandemic related psychological or mental issues by allowing them to use anxiety reduction buffering mechanisms (e.g., social gatherings). By studying people’s recent responses to the COVID-19 outbreak and given their BR, this study proposes that governments’ interventions are needed to curtail the disease spreading and its associated costs further. In addition, several recommendations for interventions are suggested. (Edited publisher abstract)