WP6. Social and economic aspects

Nowadays it is clearly undisputed that the social and economic consequences of poor mental health across the life course can be profound. While methods have been developed to quantify these costs, so far little attempt has been made to estimate many other health, social and economic consequences of poor mental health. For instance, remarkably little research has been undertaken in Europe to quantify the economic impacts of co-morbid mental and physical problems. Major gaps also remain in our knowledge of the cost effectiveness of mental health promotion, prevention and rehabilitation interventions.

In order to move beyond the current state of the art it will be essential, initially to conduct rapid reviews on what is currently know about the broader social and economic costs of poor mental health in Europe. In addition, an inventory of which programmes against social exclusion, stigma and discrimination has been evaluated to determine appropriate indicators and establish outcomes. Further work is required in the domain of supported employment schemes that have been shown to be effective in helping people return to work and further research is also needed to disclose other options besides work that may be cost-effective and able to strengthen skills and confidence which have important roles in recovery. E-health and M-health are new approaches relevant to new forms of care provision, research infrastructure, public health research and dissemination.  Work needs to be produced with participation of relevant stakeholders to identify how information and communications technology can support the delivery of known interventions in clinical research settings. Work to be undertaken will also include the creation of new metrics to evaluate e- and m-health programs; designing and testing end-to-end scalable solutions across EU member states; and the design and evaluation of web- and mobile-based dissemination of research results to EU citizens.

• To map the current state of the art and boundaries in analysis of social and economic issues for mental health in Europe
• To identify knowledge and investment needs and gaps as well innovative research developments  
• To prioritise among identified gaps and advances to provide for novel solutions for gaps identified in the field of social and economic aspects

Prof. David McDaid

Prof. Graham Thornicroft

Dr. Sara Evans-Lacko

First scientific workshop to review the state-of-art in social and economical aspects of mental health and well-being research across Europe

The workshop, hosted by Prof. Graham Thornicroft (King’s College of London, KCL), Mr. David McDaid  (London School of Economics, LSE) and Dr. Sara Evans-Lacko (KCL), took place successfully in London at  the KCL Strand on July 17, 2012.

Click to the following link to download the agenda of the event.
Click to the following link to download the list of participants of the event.

See the pictures of the event here.

Second scientific workshop to review the state-of-art in social and economical aspects of mental health and well-being research across Europe

The second scientific workshop of WP6 was held on the 12-13th of March, in London. The main aim of the workshop was to discuss the gaps and advances regarding the social and economic aspects of mental health research in Europe. Experts of both areas were invited to the workshop, where both aspects were discussed. The outcomes of the scientific workshop will be further refined by the Scientific Advisory Board and by consulting stakeholders. Please feel free to check the agenda here and the photos over here!