Abstract

Policy makers find much mental health research irrelevant to their concerns. What types of research would directly assist those who formulate policy? The two purposes of this paper are (i) to identify important gaps in completed research, particularly in relation to the National Service Framework (NSF) for Mental Health (Department of Health, 1999a) and the NHS Plan (NHS Confederation, 2001); and (ii) to translate these gaps into researchable questions that can contribute to a debate about the future research agenda for general adult mental health in England.

Highlights

  • Policy makers find much mental health research irrelevant to their concerns

  • The method we have undertaken is to conduct an expert assessment of three sets of source material: a thematic review, conducted by the authors of this paper, for the Department of Health of commissioned research on adult mental health between 1992 and 2000 (Bindman et al, 2001); the Scoping Review of the Effectiveness of Mental Health Services, produced by the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at the University of York (Jepson et al, 2000), which provided a series of systematic reviews in relation to the National Service Framework (NSF) for Mental Health and NHS Plan; and the Report of the Mental Health Topic Working Group (1999), which reported to the Clarke Department of Health Research and Development Committee in 1999 to re-establish NHS research funding priorities

  • Our proposals for future researchable questions are summarised in relation to the seven headings of the NSF for Mental Health (Department of Health, 1999a)

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Summary

Method

An evidence base is needed that is not confined to measures to combat discrimination, but which will cover desirable employment policies, the effectiveness of health improvement programmes and the possibilities for prevention Numerous problems under this heading might include studies providing answers to the following questions: What are the outcomes of providing employment services aimed at helping employers to take a more flexible joint decision to use the Disability Discrimination Act, and to assist general practitioners (GPs) in their use of sickness certificates?; What is the relative cost-effectiveness of forms of vocational placement schemes for people severely disabled by mental illness?; Are interventions that use the Disability Discrimination Act’s ‘reasonable adjustment’ cost-effective for people with mental health problems?; What methods are necessary to assess the costs and outcomes of anti-discrimination activities in mental health; and How do such interventions affect knowledge, attitudes and behaviours?. We suggested three possible studies under this general heading: Which interventions reduce sickness absence

Observational studies
Conclusions
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