Policy interventions to facilitate travel by people with mental health conditions

Abstract

About a quarter of the adults living in England have been diagnosed with a mental health condition (for example, anxiety and depression). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the difficulties faced by these people when they travel, and ways in which policy interventions could be used to encourage them to travel more. The main evidence in the paper comes from a weighted sample of 363 people with mental health conditions who completed an on-line survey. The paper concentrates on anxiety issues. The anxieties are considered under five headings: interacting with fellow travellers, interacting with staff and purchasing tickets, wayfinding, needing support, and needing to take urgent action. Policy interventions to improve access to infrastructure and services to help address the anxieties are discussed under these headings. The number of respondents who say that they would travel more if some of the interventions were introduced is then considered. The paper concludes that there are ways in which some of the anxieties that people have when travelling can be addressed and that introducing these types of intervention would increase travel by people with mental health conditions.