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The right to political participation of persons with mental health problems and persons with intellectual disabilities
- Author:
- EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
- Publisher:
- European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 24p.
- Place of publication:
- Vienna
The right to vote and to be elected is a fundamental right that all citizens in the European Union should be able to enjoy, on an equal basis. The report highlights international and European standards in this area and analyses the current legal framework in all 27 EU Member States, with the intention of contributing to knowledge about and the process of reform currently taking place in the EU Member States. The report starts by describing the international and European standards favouring the full participation of persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with mental health problems in the electoral process. The comparative law analysis then highlights the diverse approaches adopted in the EU Member States. In a majority of these, persons who have lost their legal capacity are automatically deprived of their right to political participation. The European Court of Human Rights, however, clearly stated that such an automatic deprivation contravenes the European Convention on Human Rights. In other EU Member States, the practice is to organise an individualised assessment of the actual ability to vote of the individuals in question. Finally, a third group of EU Member States have moved towards full participation of persons with disabilities in the electoral process. The report provides suggestions for the way forward to make sure that the standards in this area are applied in practice.
Mental health: part 1: report
- Authors:
- TNS OPINION AND SOCIAL, EUROPEAN COMMISSION. Directorate General Health and Consumers
- Publisher:
- European Commission. Directorate General Communication
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 64p.
- Place of publication:
- Brussels
This publication reports on the results of a survey on mental health and well-being across the 27 European Union Member States. The main themes addressed in this report are: the state of mental well-being; level of comfort at work (job security, job recognition, and whether jobs match skills); care and treatment (sources of professional help and antidepressant use); and perceptions of people with mental illness. Interviews were conducted with 26,800 EU citizens between February and March 2010. The results are presented for the total EU and by individual country, and compared to results from an earlier survey carried out between December 2005 and January 2006. The results show that about 1 in 7 EU citizens (15%) have sought help for a psychological or emotional problem in the past 12 months and 7% admit to taking antidepressants in the past 12 months. The mental health of an individual also pervades their attitudes and behaviours in the workplace, and the people with mental health problems are more likely to be absent from work and to feel undervalued in their job functions. The poorest in society, who are the most financially stretched or at the lower end of the social scale, are feeling the most negative and suffering the most from mental health problems.
Attempting to mainstream ethnicity in a multi-country EU mental health and social inclusion project: lessons for social work
- Authors:
- RAMON Shulamit, RYAN Peter, UREK Mojca
- Journal article citation:
- European Journal of Social Work, 13(2), June 2010, pp.163-182.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The article describes the logic, parameters, and methodology of an attempt at mainstreaming ethnicity within the ‘Empowerment of Mental Illness Service Users Through Lifelong Learning Integration and Action’ (EMILIA) project, a European Union 6th framework multi-sites project focused on mental health and social inclusion. This study, spread across eight sites in Southern, Central and Northern Europe, explores the findings of the baseline audit, the ensuing action plans and the changes which followed. Examining the process and its outcomes for mainstreaming across the different sites and the services they provide, it highlights the impact of country-specific policies on disclosure of information relating to ethnicity as well as country and site policies and practices relating to recognising the existence of ethnic inequality and tackling it. Issues underlying formal mainstreaming staff and users’ training are explored. The role of social work within a multi-disciplinary group is examined, and the lessons for European social work are outlined. Main findings include the difficulties encountered in carrying out ethnicity audits, and the relevance of ethnicity audit to staff and users and identified needs for further action. While positive action has been taken by different sites, ethnicity has not been perceived as a major issue for either the staff or the users of the project, which can be explained by the insignificance attached to having ethnic minority clients and staff members within mental health services.
Exploring the relationship between absolute and relative position and late-life depression: evidence from 10 European countries
- Authors:
- LADIN Keren, DANIELS Norman, KAWACHI Ichiro
- Journal article citation:
- Gerontologist, 50(1), February 2010, pp.48-59.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Previous research has shown socioeconomic inequality to be associated with higher levels of morbidity and mortality. This study investigates the role of absolute and relative deprivation in predicting late-life depression at both individual and national levels. Data obtained from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe included 22,777 men and women, aged 50 to 104 years, from 10 European countries. Late-life depression was measured using the EURO-D scale. Absolute deprivation was measured using gross domestic product and average household income at the national level and socioeconomic status at the individual level. Relative deprivation was measured by Gini coefficients at the national level and educational achievement at the individual level. Depression ranged from 18% in Denmark to 37% in Spain, part of a clear north-south gradient. Measures of absolute and relative deprivation were significant in predicting depression at both country and individual levels. Results suggest that the negative impact of societal inequality cannot be overcome by increased individual-level or country-level income, and that increases in individual-level income did not mitigate the effect of country-level relative deprivation. Mental health disparities persist throughout later life whereby persons exposed to higher levels of country-level inequality suffer greater morbidity compared with those in countries with less inequality. National variations in the relationship between inequality and depression clearly show the need for further research.