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Mental Health Information and Determinants for the European Level
01/06/2007 - Submitted by: Argyro Kazaki
The overall aim of the MINDFUL project is to improve the status of mental health information within the European Union. Based on previous work conducted in this field, the project aims at widening the scope of the mental health monitoring systems to cover - not only mental ill-health - but also positive mental health and mental health promotion and prevention, which have been rather neglected until now. In view of this goal, the outcome of this work is a comprehensive forward-looking system which endorses sound and sensible policy-making based on reliable and comparable information. In order to achieve the objectives in full, the project will co-operate closely with relevant organisations (for example Eurostat, OECD, WHO, and national institutions).
The specific objectives of MINDFUL, which encompasses the co-ordinating project and 6 partnership projects, are to fine-tune the readily available indicators with the goal of harmonising their utilisation throughout the Member States. An analysis of the determinants of mental health and mental ill-health will be performed; an investigation into the mental health monitoring systems in the new Member States will be carried out; a system for monitoring the impact of policies and programmes promoting mental health will be developed. MINDFUL includes training and monitoring for effective mental health promotion and a system for monitoring service utilisation data.
Furthermore, it entails development of the current survey and reporting methods with regard to mental health. Taken together, the independent partnership projects of MINDFUL are intended to support each other with the specific aim of building up a truly comprehensive system that takes into account various aspects of the mental health field feasible within the European Union context. A proposal for such a system will be the principal goal of MINDFUL. Consequently, the project will promote the usage of a feasible and coherent set of mental health indicators in the Member States.
Methods
MINDFUL widens remarkably the scope of contemporary mental health monitoring. While the work is firmly based on previous projects (funded from the Health Monitoring Programme of the EC), the project's modular structure allows effective parallel development in a multitude of different areas.
MINDFUL will
- analyse determinants of mental health and mental ill-health from existing sources,
- explore and develop the relevant information systems in the new Member States, (3) establish a system for monitoring the impact of policies and programmes promoting mental health,
- offer a training programme for the implementation of mental health promotion and prevention interventions
- establish a system to monitor service utilisation data, and
- develop the contemporary survey and reporting methods.
As a result of this, MINDFUL encompasses the whole range of mental health monitoring and mental health information activities and is able to carry out each of the independent partnership projects in parallel.
Collaboration between the projects will be ensured by developing effective co-ordination methods. Regular and intensive information exchange provides one feasible means towards this goal. The organisation and implementation of such procedures is the responsibility of the main beneficiary.
In view of achieving the objectives, previous collaboration between the MINDFUL participants is a remarkable benefit. It needs to be noted that all partnership project leaders represent recognised and well-known organisations. Within a wider context, the involvement of a supporting network (European Network on Mental Health Policy, ENMHPO) ensures that national viewpoints and needs are taken into account as well as facilitates the dissemination of the results in the Member States.