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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 September 2021

Jude Stansfield, Nick Cavill, Louise Marshall, Claire Robson and Harry Rutter

This paper aims to use systems mapping as a tool to develop an organisation-wide approach to public mental health to inform strategic direction within a national public health

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to use systems mapping as a tool to develop an organisation-wide approach to public mental health to inform strategic direction within a national public health agency.

Design/methodology/approach

Two workshops were facilitated with internal staff from a wide range of public health policy teams working in small groups to produce paper-based maps. These were collated and refined by the project team and digitised.

Findings

The approach engaged a range of teams in forming a shared understanding and producing a complex system map of the influences on population mental health and well-being, where current policy initiatives were addressing them and what the gaps and priorities were. Participants valued the approach which led to further study and organisational commitment to the whole system working as part of national public mental health strategy.

Research limitations/implications

The approach was limited to internal stakeholders and wider engagement with other sectors and community members would help further the application of complex system approaches to public mental health.

Originality/value

It was a valuable process for developing a whole-organisation approach and stimulating thinking and practice in complex system approaches. The paper provides a practical example of how to apply systems mapping and its benefits for organising public mental health practice.

Details

Journal of Public Mental Health, vol. 20 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5729

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2008

Niyi Awofeso

Advocacy is an important tool for translating population health objectives and research findings into policy and practice, as well as for enhancing stakeholder support for…

255

Abstract

Advocacy is an important tool for translating population health objectives and research findings into policy and practice, as well as for enhancing stakeholder support for programmes and activities with a potential to improve the health of populations. At the inception of modern prisons, health advocacy approaches focused on appealing to humanitarian and religious sentiments of stakeholders to improve the well‐being of prisoners. This approach achieved limited results, not least because of persistent apathy of custodial authorities and the public to prisoners’ wellbeing. From the mid twentieth century onwards, a constitutional and human rights approach evolved, with courts becoming actively involved in mandating minimum health standards in prisons. Penal populism eroded public support for a judicial recourse to improving prison health services, and encouraged governments to institute procedural barriers to prisoner‐initiated litigation. The author proposes an approach premised on public health principles as an appropriate platform to advocate for improvements in prison health services in this era. Such an advocacy platform combines the altruistic goals of the humanitarian and constitutional rights approaches with an appeal to community’s self‐interest by alerting the public to the social, financial and health implications inherent in released prisoners suffering from major communicable and chronic diseases re‐entering the community.

Details

International Journal of Prisoner Health, vol. 4 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-9200

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 June 2021

Teresa Burdett and Joanne Inman

Due to the need for the development of person-centred integrated models of care with a population health approach, this paper explored contemporary literature in this arena.

1083

Abstract

Purpose

Due to the need for the development of person-centred integrated models of care with a population health approach, this paper explored contemporary literature in this arena.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. Papers included in this review focused upon person-centred integrated care and a health promotion/public health approach (January 2018–October 2020). Papers were excluded due to not being written in English, not fitting the age criteria and not being peer reviewed.

Findings

Eight studies met the inclusion criteria and three overarching themes were identified with regards to person-centred integrated care as a health promotion/public health approach: Core components; Development, implementation, and evaluation of models of care and relationship to population health and wellbeing outcomes.

Research limitations/implications

The need for person-centred integrated care as a health promotion/public health approach, to enhance population health and well-being outcomes requires further research to continue to develop, implement and evaluate models of care.

Originality/value

The international scope of this contemporary review brought together the three concepts of person-centred integrated care and public health, exploring the translation of policy into practice (WHO, 2016). The juxtaposition of public health approaches in the background/consequential or foreground/active agent demonstrates how promotion, prevention and population health can be re-valued in integrated people-centred health services (WHO, 2016).

Details

Journal of Integrated Care, vol. 29 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1476-9018

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 March 2013

Nina Schuller

The purpose of this paper is to encourage greater cross‐disciplinary understanding of the development of crime prevention and public health approaches, by using a wider framework…

302

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to encourage greater cross‐disciplinary understanding of the development of crime prevention and public health approaches, by using a wider framework of analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

The findings of this paper are based on the scanning of a range of papers and developments across both the crime prevention and public health fields. The concept of convergence (which can be found in various fields of science and social science) provides a wider framework for analysis.

Findings

The resulting analysis suggests an increasing convergence between crime prevention and public health approaches, in terms of theory, policy and practice. It is also suggested that wider political and socio‐demographic trends could lead to the enforced integration.

Research limitations/implications

This paper does not draw on primary research.

Practical implications

Those working in each field are then left to choose whether to support such convergence, or alternatively argue for why the two areas should remain distinctive.

Social implications

This paper argues for greater consideration across the disciplines of the likely consequences of convergence.

Originality/value

There have been a number of previous papers on various intersections between crime prevention and public health. This paper seeks to draw on these, and offer a broader viewpoint on the development of the two disciplines within a wider framework of analysis.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 June 2019

Ian F. Walker, Jude Stansfield, Lily Makurah, Helen Garnham, Claire Robson, Cam Lugton, Nancy Hey and Gregor Henderson

Mental health is an emerging health policy priority globally. The emphasis on closing the treatment gap in psychiatric services is now being complemented by an increasing focus on…

3787

Abstract

Purpose

Mental health is an emerging health policy priority globally. The emphasis on closing the treatment gap in psychiatric services is now being complemented by an increasing focus on prevention and health promotion. The purpose of this paper is to describe the programmes and delivery of public mental health in England led by Public Health England (PHE), an arms-length body of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Design/methodology/approach

This technical paper outlines the general approach PHE has taken in delivering national work in public mental health and describes several key areas of work: children and young people, suicide prevention, workplace and workforce, strategic engagement with stakeholders, data and information and evidence synthesis.

Findings

A description of the various programmes and guidance documents that PHE have produced are described and referenced, which form a substantial body of work in public mental health.

Practical implications

The outputs from PHE may assist in informing the approach to public mental health that other government agencies could consider adopting. The resources described and signposted within this technical paper are publicly available for readers.

Originality/value

England is one of a small group of countries that have a track record in delivering public mental health at a national level. This paper gives a unique and detailed insight into this work.

Details

Journal of Public Mental Health, vol. 18 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5729

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 July 2021

Marta Ortega Vega, Chris Attoe, Hannah Iannelli, Aleks Saunders and Sean Cross

Public mental health training can effectively support well-being at a population level. The application of this type of training is increasingly prevalent, however, training…

Abstract

Purpose

Public mental health training can effectively support well-being at a population level. The application of this type of training is increasingly prevalent, however, training evaluation is currently limited and inconsistent. This paper aims to summarise the characteristics of public mental health training available in England, presents key quality criteria for this training and identifies gaps in training provision.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses a pragmatic mixed-methods approach including database and Google Searches, focus groups and survey methods. The data analysis included a structured data extraction template for the training availability scoping and thematic analysis of the survey and focus groups.

Findings

This paper identifies a total of 74 training courses targeting workplace employees, young people and the general population. Most courses were delivered face-to-face (54), followed by e-learning (16) and blended modalities (4). This paper derives four core quality principles, focussing on the training approach, key features of training, trainer attributes and evaluation. There were no significant gaps in training provision, although areas for future development included consistency in public mental health terminology, systems and populations requiring additional training and the logistics of training delivery, etc.

Originality/value

The results contribute to the evidence base of interventions that are currently available, supporting the efforts to evaluate the impact of training provision in this area. This paper provides a novel approach to assessing training quality and discuss areas for development and innovation in this field.

Details

Journal of Public Mental Health, vol. 20 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5729

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 12 April 2019

David A. Sleet

Building a culture of safety in transportation is not dissimilar from building a culture of safety in health. Public health is widely known for protecting the public from diseases…

Abstract

Building a culture of safety in transportation is not dissimilar from building a culture of safety in health. Public health is widely known for protecting the public from diseases through milk pasteurization and chlorination of drinking water, and from injuries by implementing environmental and occupational safeguards and fostering behavioral change. Lifestyle and environmental changes that have contributed to the reductions in smoking and heart disease can also help change driving, walking and cycling behaviors, and environments. Stimulating a culture of safety on the road means providing safe and accessible transportation for all. The vision for a culture of traffic safety is to change the public’s attitude about the unacceptable toll from traffic injuries and to implement a systems approach to traffic injury prevention as a means for improving public health and public safety. Framing the motor vehicle injury problem in this way provides an opportunity for partnerships between highway safety and public health to improve the culture of safety.

Details

Traffic Safety Culture
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-617-4

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 2007

Ambra Burls

Drawing on the author's multi‐method research on the viability of specific ecotherapy practitioner training and curriculum design, this paper debates how the use of ecotherapeutic…

2737

Abstract

Drawing on the author's multi‐method research on the viability of specific ecotherapy practitioner training and curriculum design, this paper debates how the use of ecotherapeutic approaches can provide a two‐pronged system to achieve both individual health (at micro level) and public and environment health outcomes (at macro level). The research sought the views of service users, practitioners and educationalists through use of interviews, focus groups, a nominal group, and an ethnographic case study group. This research raised other considerations: namely, that people seeking personal recovery also, through stewardship of green spaces, may achieve unanticipated social capital and natural capital outcomes and thereby meet current multi‐disciplinary policy targets. This added social value has not been previously considered as an important dimension in people's well‐being and recovery from ill health or social exclusion. Such outcomes emerge from the idea of green spaces becoming a ‘product’ delivered to the community by people whose pursuit of personal recovery also directly contributes to improved public mental health.

Details

Journal of Public Mental Health, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5729

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 November 2009

Jill Manthorpe, Steve Iliffe, Michelle Cornes, Jo Moriarty, Les Bright and Roger Clough

At a time of increasing interest in mental health in later life, the role of public health approaches is potentially heightened. This paper draws on interview data with older…

Abstract

At a time of increasing interest in mental health in later life, the role of public health approaches is potentially heightened. This paper draws on interview data with older people living in London to consider the interplay between personal and public approaches to health and well‐being. The interviews were under taken as part of the midpoint review of the UK government's 10‐year strategy for older people (Healthcare Commission et al, 2006) and the social characteristics of London are considered.

Details

Journal of Public Mental Health, vol. 8 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5729

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 August 2019

Claire Thirlwall and Sandy Whitelaw

Drawing on the notion of “mental health policy participation”, the purpose of this paper is to describe and reflect on a regional case study of a community engagement approach

194

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on the notion of “mental health policy participation”, the purpose of this paper is to describe and reflect on a regional case study of a community engagement approach that explored community perspectives on mental health and the factors that influence it. It established three expectations, that: the development of the Dumfries and Galloway Public Mental Health Strategy is informed by project outputs; services and innovations are based on what people want; active involvement of local people in decision making around mental health services and strategy is achieved.

Design/methodology/approach

A “participatory appraisal” approach was used to engage with communities. A three-day “Training of Trainers” exercise was undertaken. These individuals then accessed a number of community groups. Data collection was based on five key questions. A total of 443 were engaged in the process. Insights were reviewed by 20 stakeholders from a range of services to identify key actions. This led to the development of the mental health forum and, in turn, a Public Mental Health Strategy for Dumfries and Galloway. Community members were further included in processes through feedback mechanisms.

Findings

Factors of resilience, support of families and friends, social inclusion, access to social and leisure opportunities were most important. This was followed by structural issues like fear of judgement, lack of transport, discrimination and financial support. Finally, individual factors (sleep, meaningful hobbies and health) were highlighted.

Originality/value

This approach sought to go beyond a traditional focus to explore broader community perspectives on mental health and the factors that influence it.

Details

Journal of Public Mental Health, vol. 19 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5729

Keywords

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