National Institute For Mental Health Research Articles

Narrative Formulation Revisited: On Seeing the Person in Mental Health Recovery

Narrative Formulation RevisitedOn Seeing the Person in Mental Health Recovery Anna Bergqvist (bio) The use of narrative in mental health contexts models consciousness as something necessarily embodied, as already part of the world, in an inherently value-laden and perspectival way. As such narrative presents a powerful tool for critical reassessment and reevaluation of preconceived ideas in relating to difficult concepts in clinical interactions. Narrative structures can reveal psychological differences between persons in a way that matters for the provision of effective treatment and management. As emphasized by Solomon (2015), narrative reasoning is also motivated by distinctly first-personal concerns that are operative in the practitioner–client relationship. I maintain that the dynamics of that interpersonal relationship are part and parcel of what it means to address the patient's needs to be seen as a person in humanistic empathetic care—without thereby reducing truth to an individual person's perspective to encourage positive transformation.1 The notion of empowering narratives to encourage positive change is a core concept behind the emphasis on the critical role of empathy in explaining human development and psychoanalytic change within the self-psychology tradition but is also key to recovery-based models of the significance of person-centered quality of life in medicine more generally. This is defined in mental health as recovering a good quality of life as determined by the values of (by what matters or is important to) the individual concerned (Allott, Loganathan, & Fulford, 2002; Fulford, 1989, 2004; Fulford, Peile, & Carroll, 2012). The importance of strengths in this regard was reflected for example in the UK government program on values-based mental health assessment. The 3 Keys program, as it was called (National Institute for Mental Health in England, NIMHE, and the Care Services Improvement Partnership, 20082) identified three shared 'keys' to good practice in mental health assessment: three things that were identified in a wide-ranging consultation as being important alike by health professionals of all kinds and by 'service users' thus understood as patients and carers (Fulford, Duhig, Hankin, Hicks, & Keeble, 2015a; Fulford, Dewey, & King, 2015b). The third of these keys was defined in [End Page 7] the subsequently published Good Practice Guidance, as "a person-centred focus that builds on the strengths, resiliencies and aspirations of the individual service user as well as identifying his or her needs and challenges" (NIMHE, 2008: 6); and the guidance included a number of real-life case examples of best recovery practice reflecting this aspect of mental health care (Slade et al., 2014). What my (Bergqvist, 2018, 2020, 2022, forthcoming) account adds to this claim is that while such choices are revelatory or expressive of a distinctly first-personal stance, they do not constitute or determine selfhood and self-interpretation in a fixed way. Moreover, the reason is that one can also adopt a second-personal stance on one's own experience and address oneself, where the relationship between the first- and the second-personal narrative perspective on experience and self-understanding is itself a dynamic and open-ended evaluative process. Anna Bergqvist Anna Bergqvist is Reader in Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University since 2021, and has been Postgraduate Research Coordinator and AHRC North West Doctoral Pathway Consortium Lead for Philosophy since 2020. I was elected to a Visiting Fellowship at St Catherine's College University of Oxford for Michaelmas Term 2021. Her service to the profession out with the University includes acting as Secretary of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Section for Philosophy & Humanities in Psychiatry (October 2020 – present), Executive Committee Member of the Royal College of Psychiatry (RCPsych) SIG in Philosophy (February 2020 – present) and External Examiner, University of Liverpool (November 2019 – present, 4-year tenure). She is also Director of the Values-based Theory Network at St Catherine's Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice at the University of Oxford, and Member of its Whiteness and Race Equality Network. Her approach to philosophy bridges the disciplines of moral philosophy, moral psychology and philosophy of psychiatry to improve lives through her reputable expertise in moral perception and co-production as a mechanism for change. Notes 1. Here I side with Goldie (2012) and Solomon (2015), who...

Precision Implementation: An Approach to Mechanism Testing in Implementation Research.

Advancing mechanism-focused research in implementation science is a priority given its potential to improve tailoring and efficiency of implementation strategies. Experimental therapeutics, or experimental medicine, offers an approach for mechanism testing that has been promoted by the NIH Science of Behavior Change and endorsed by the National Institute for Mental Health. This approach has been applied across the translational spectrum - with initial applications to biological research and more recent applications to psychosocial treatment development research. We describe further advancement of experimental therapeutics along the translational spectrum and describe how it is ideally suited to inform precision experimental tests of implementation strategy mechanisms, which we term precision implementation. Such an approach to mechanism testing will allow for identification of causal dose-response relationships between implementation strategies, presumed mechanisms, and implementation outcomes. We discuss the tension between the scientific rigor required to conduct mechanism-focused research using experimental therapeutics and the "real world" conditions in which implementation research takes place. We provide a series of example studies that show "beginning to end" application of this framework in research focused on provider implementation of an evidence-based intervention in routine clinical care settings.

Coming Up…

The National Institute for Mental Health is hosting its 25th NIMH Conference on Mental Health Services Research: “Transforming Challenges into New Opportunities,” Aug. 2‐3 to be held virtually. For more information, visit www.nimh.nih.gov/news/events/announcements/25th‐nimh‐conference‐on‐mental‐health‐services‐research‐mhsr.

Coming Up…

The National Institute for Mental Health is hosting its 25th NIMH Conference on Mental Health Services Research, “Transforming Challenges into New Opportunities,” Aug. 2‐3 to be held virtually. For more information, visit www.nimh.nih.gov/news/events/announcements/25th‐nimh‐conference‐on‐mental‐health‐services‐research‐mhsr.

Curing Psychiatry's Schizophrenia: A Commentary in Values-Based PHD Mental Health Practice

Curing Psychiatry's SchizophreniaA Commentary in Values-Based PHD Mental Health Practice K.W.M. (Bill) Fulford (bio) From the perspective of values-based practice (VBP), there is much of interest in Lorenzo Gilardi and Giovanni Stanghellini's "I am a Schizophrenic." Their dialogue exhibits many of the key elements of VBP, it exemplifies the particular challenges presented by VBP in mental health, it illustrates the power of phenomenology in meeting these challenges, and it points by extension to an insight into contemporary psychiatry's professional identity as a medical profession. VBP is a resource for working with values—with what matters or is important to those concerned—in healthcare (Fulford, Peile, & Carroll, 2012). Avoiding preset answers, it offers instead a process that supports those concerned in a given situation finding answers for themselves. Developed first in mental health as a practical offshoot of analytic philosophy and psychiatry (Fulford, 1989; Fulford & van Staden, 2013), VBP is now being extended to other areas of health and social care: the Director of the VBP Centre in Oxford is the vascular surgeon and Oxford's Tutor for Surgery, Ashok Handa (Handa et al., 2016; see also: www.//valuesbasedpractice.org). That "I am a schizophrenic" should be transparently values-based is unsurprising given Giovanni Stanghellini's important contributions to the field (more on this below). Evident in the dialogue between LG and GS are many of the key skills of VBP (notably, awareness of values and listening skills); the approach is dialogic (it is a conversation not a medical monologue); and the dialogue is patient-values-centered (it focuses on what matters or is important to LG). Evident, too, is the importance of narrative. Relegated to the bottom of the evidence hierarchy, narrative comes at the top of the corresponding values hierarchy (Fulford, 2020): and the LG/GS dialogue convincingly illustrates why this should be so. Then again, coming to VBP in mental health, the LG/GS dialogue is co-productive (it is a dialogue between equals); it is positive (it is concerned as much with LG's strengths as with his needs and difficulties (National Institute for Mental Health in England and the Care Services Improvement Partnership, 2008); and it is recovery oriented (it is aimed not at symptom control but rather at rebuilding a good quality of life as defined by what matters to LG as an individual (Slade, 2009). Importantly, there is nothing in the LG/GS dialogue that from the perspective of VBP is peculiar to psychiatry. True, it would be surprising, even [End Page 15] in Oxford, if Schopenhauer, Blankenburg and Nietzsche were all to come up within minutes of each other in a values-based consultation in Ashok Handa's aortic surgery outpatient clinic. But this is a difference only of content. In a consultation about aortic surgery the material values (the things that matter or are important) involve such (conceptually) straightforward issues as side effects (including death), length of stay in hospital, and the likelihood of relapse. The corresponding values in the LG/GS dialogue, by contrast, involve the (conceptually) far-from-straightforward nature of personal identity. Hence, then, the resort in the LG/GS dialogue to Schopenhauer, Blankenburg, and Nietzsche. Hence, too, the more challenging nature of VBP as a whole in mental health as compared with areas of bodily medicine such as surgery. Which is where Giovanni Stanghellini has been early in the field in adding to the originating analytic philosophical resources of VBP, the resources of phenomenology. There is, of course, a long tradition of phenomenological research in psychiatry (Stanghellini & Fuchs, 2013). There have been other initiatives, too, in phenomenological VBP (e.g., in addictive disorders; Messas and Soares, forthcoming, 2020). Stanghellini has given us what he calls a "PHD" model of therapy (Stanghellini, 2019). The LG/GS dialogue nicely illustrates how the PHD model combines the life-world insights of phenomenology with the heuristic methods of the hermeneutic circle in a dialogical form of person-centered phenomenological-dynamic psychotherapy. LG, it is true, is a particularly well-read and philosophically insightful patient. This is perhaps why as their dialogue nicely illustrates, GS and LG speak the same language. But this, again...

Sociodemographic and Clinical Profile of Patients Receiving Disability Certificates as per Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 for Psychiatric, Neurological, and Neurosurgical Disorders at Tertiary Care Centre

In India, Rights of persons with disabilities (RPWD) Act 2016 recognizes 21 disabilities including 12 disabilities which were not present in Person with disabilities Act 1995. Disability certificate (DC) is necessary to avail benefits under the RPWD Act 2016. To study socio-demographic and clinical profile of patients who were issued DC as per RPWD Act 2016 for psychiatric, neurological, and neurosurgical disorders. The study was carried out at National Institute for Mental Health and Neurological Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru. Socio-demographic and clinical details of patients who were issued DC for 2107 and 2018 were retrieved from hospital register, case files and e-hospital portal. A total of 2448 DC were issued in 2017 and 2018. Among DC issued, records of 2376 patients could be retrieved for the study. 95% of certificates were issued for patients from same state where our centre is located. Two thirds of patients were male. Most DC were issued for intellectual disability (51.9%) and mental illness (39%), chronic neurological conditions (5.1%), autism (1.1%), and muscular dystrophy (0.9%). Stroke (1.7%) was most common chronic neurological condition to be certified. Though the institute caters to more than 4 lakhs patients annually, only around 1200 DC are issued per year. There is considerable variation among units/consultant in same department who initiate disability certification. Patients, caregivers, and health professionals need to be sensitized about the disability certification process and available welfare benefits.

Reflections on the first conference of the International Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health convened in India, a middle-income country.

Since its establishment in 1980, all biennial conferences of The International Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health had been convened in high-income nations. Relatively little consideration had been given to the experiences and needs of most women who live in the world's low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The aim is to provide an account of the first conference convened in India, a middle-income country. The Global Experiences, Global Dialogues, Global Responses Biennial Conference of the International Marcé Society for Perinatal Health was convened at the National Institute for Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) held in Bengaluru 26th-28th September 2018. The conference achieved all its aims of maximizing access for people living and working in LMICs through scaled registration fees, building capacity through a young professionals' program, promoting collaboration through symposia co-convened by South Asian and other international experts, and visits to NIMHANS' clinical services. It made an impact on the agendas of sister expert professional societies, and public policies in India and generated significant public interest. It was appraised as pivotal, transformative and presenting exceptionally high-quality science. It was financially successful in making the largest contribution to date from a biennial conference to the Society's resources. We commend this initiative to other international expert professional societies seeking to benefit from the opportunities for mutual learning that conferences convened in low- and middle-income countries can provide, and to reduce disparities in access to evidence to address health inequalities.

Suicide Prevention in England: An Evaluation of Fifteen Years of Action

In his book 'History of Suicide: Voluntary death in Western culture', George Minois examines how a culture's attitudes about suicide reflect wider beliefs and values. Similarly, we too must examine our attitudes to suicide today in light of its prevalence and public health importance in contemporary Britain. Suicide is a major public health issue included as a public health indicator within England's Public Health Outcomes Framework to 'reflect the importance of sustained efforts to keep the suicide rate at or below current levels'. The first government policy paper on suicide prevention in England titled 'National Suicide prevention Strategy for England' appeared in 2002. This landmark policy was presented by the then Labour government as an on-going, coordinated set of activities which would evolve over several years and would support the target set out in 'Saving Lives: Our healthier Nation' to reduce suicide by at least 20% by 2010. The government described the strategy as comprehensive and evidence based and planned to deliver it as a core program of the National Institute for Mental health in England. Ten years later, the strategy was re-launched by the coalition government and branded 'Preventing Suicide in England: A cross-government outcome strategy to save lives'. Billed as a new strategy it focused on reducing suicide rates and supporting bereaved families. It identified six key areas for action including new suicide prevention research funding; measures to restrict access to harmful suicide promoting media outlets by young people; reducing opportunities for suicide (making prisons and mental health settings safer); better support for high risk groups; improving existing services for children and young people and providing better information and support to bereaved families. That policy is the focus of this paper.

Stabilizing Constructs through Collaboration across Different Research Fields as a Way to Foster the Integrative Approach of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Project.

More than 450 million people worldwide suffer from neuropsychiatric disorders and the numbers continue to rise (WHO, 2016). In 2010, aiming to solve the global mental health crisis and advance psychiatry toward a precision medicine approach, the US National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) initiated the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Project (Cuthbert and Insel, 2013). Scientists at NIMH importantly recognize that understanding and explaining psychopathological phenomena requires input from different areas of science that investigate the role of different units of analysis (e.g., genes, cells, systems) in the production of organism-level behavioral functions. The RDoC matrix is put forward as a context for integrating results from these different sciences into a taxonomy of putatively valid constructs they purportedly share in common. It is intended to facilitate the development of “integrative psychobiological explanations” of those behavioral functions designated by the constructs (Cuthbert and Kozak, 2013, p. 931; See also Sanislow et al., 2010). Such explanations, by shedding light on the mechanisms of these functions, will enable investigators to pinpoint viable targets for therapeutic intervention in cases in which these functions are disrupted. The RDoC project is still in its infancy and its proponents recognize that it has much room for improvement (Casey et al., 2014). To date, it has been criticized for being “braincentric” and decontextualizing mental disorders from their bodily, social, and environmental contexts (e.g., Whooley, 2014; Bernard and Mittal, 2015). Although proponents of RDoC claim that one of its crucial aims is to integrate various areas of science, an obstacle to this integration is the lack of construct stability in psychology and neuroscience. In this article, I explain why stabilizing constructs is important to the success of the RDoC initiative and identify one measure for facilitating such stability.

PEER AND TEACHER PREFERENCE, STUDENT–TEACHER RELATIONSHIPS, STUDENT ETHNICITY, AND PEER VICTIMIZATION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

This research was supported, in part, by a grant from the National Institute for Mental Health (5R44MH07071‐03) awarded to Dr. Melissa E. DeRosier. Additional support comes from an Institute of Education Sciences post‐doctoral fellowship training award to the University of Florida (R324B1200002). The research was conducted at 3‐C Institute. The authors thank the staff and students of the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina for their cooperation and support in the implementation of this research project. In addition, the authors thank Drs. Janey McMillen, Natalie O'Brian, and Melanie Wilson for their invaluable efforts as project coordinators, as well as the many interns of the 3‐C Institute for their assistance in successfully completing this research project.

Prevalence and Dependency of Tobacco Use in an Indigenous Population of Kerala, India

Background: Kerala has a large number of tribal communities where the prevalence of tobacco related oral mucosal lesions is alarmingly high. This coupled with ignorance regarding harmful effects of tobacco use is an emerging public health problem. Purpose: To find out dependency of tobacco use in an indigenous population of Wayanad, India. Methods: A cross- sectional study was designed in the tribal colonies of Kalpetta, Kerala. A multi-stage cluster sampling design was adopted to select the indigenous people living in colonies. A structured close-ended interview was conducted using a 27-item questionnaire, modified and adapted from the National Institute for Mental Health and Neurosciences, India (NIMHANS). The questionnaire consisted of five domains. To assess the dependency of tobacco habit, Fagerstrom Nicotine Dependency Scale for both smoking and smokeless forms of tobacco were used. Results: Of the 103 responses obtained, 41.7% were males. Participants were in the age group of 14-70 years with a mean age of 43 years. Almost half of the respondents cleaned their teeth twice daily. About 53% of people cleaned their teeth using fingers. Toothpowder and rice husks were the commonly used materials for cleaning teeth (64%) followed by toothpaste (35.9%). It was observed that the prevalence of tobacco use in this population was 73.8%. Majority of the respondents (92%) used smokeless forms of tobacco. The mean scores of nicotine dependency for smoked tobacco was 3.85 (± 2.7) and that for smokeless form was 4.61 (± 2.17). Both these scores denote moderate dependency of tobacco use. The average age of onset of tobacco use was 16.41 years for smoked and 17.53 years for smokeless forms. Conclusions: The prevalence of tobacco consumption was found to be high among both males and females in the tribal population. Majority of them consumed different forms of smokeless tobacco

007.5 Sexual risk behaviour and sexually transmitted diseases among men who have sex with men participating in a pre-exposure prophylaxis demonstration project

Background Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly efficacious HIV prevention tool. Whether changes in sexual risk behaviours and frequency of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) occur among individuals using PrEP is unclear. We evaluated sexual behaviours and STDs among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the open-label US PrEP Demonstration (Demo) Project. Methods The Demo Project enrolled 557 MSM at STD clinics in San Francisco and Miami, and a community health centre in Washington, DC. Participants were tested for STDs and reported their sexual risk behaviours in the prior 3-months at baseline and weeks 12, 24, 36 and 48. Prevalence of STDs and STD incidence were assessed, and changes in reported risk behaviours and STD incidence were assessed using chi-square tests. Results The median number of anal sex partners in the prior 3-months decreased from 5 at baseline to 4 at week 48 (p = 0.0003). While the median number of condomless receptive anal sex episodes was unchanged, the median number of receptive anal sex episodes with condoms declined from 6.5 to 2.0 (p Conclusion HIV incidence was extremely low, despite a high incidence of STDs in a PrEP demonstration project. Quarterly STD screening, including testing at extra-genital sites, is recommended for MSM taking PrEP. Conflict of interest This work was supported by National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) [UM1AI069496]; National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) [R01MH095628]; and the Miami Centre for AIDS Research (CFAR) [P30AI073961] from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIAID participated as a partner in protocol development, interpretation of data and gave final approval to submit the manuscript for publication. Study drug for The PrEP Demo Project was provided by Gilead, but Gilead played no role in design or conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of the data; preparation or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Susan Philip has received speaker’s honorarium from Gilead. Richard Elion has received research support from Gilead and is on the speakers’ bureau for Gilead. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT# 01632995.

Talking more about talking cures: cognitive behavioural therapy and informed consent

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has risen to prominence as an orthodox treatment option which is commonly recommended to patients with anxiety and depressive disorders. Mainstream healthcare institutions (including the National...

Why Do Young Males Attack Schools? Seven Discipline Leaders Share Their Perspectives

Mass shootings in public places such as political rallies in Arizona, movie theaters in Colorado, and grade schools in Connecticut and Norway are some of the most horrifying events we face in the 21st century. The time has come for us to research, understand, and communicate the causes for perpetrators who wreak such havoc on unsuspecting, unprepared, innocent people. The time has come for a peer-reviewed scientific journal to do everything possible to explore the contributing factors of such violent acts in order to mitigate or prevent them in the future. To this end, Violence and Gender has assembled a multidisciplinary panel of experts to look at the basic information regarding shooters--generally white males between fifteen and thirty years of age--from a wide range of scientific and behavioral perspectives as a foundation for understanding "why." Language: en

Will RDoC hasten the decline of America's global leadership role in mental health?

Will RDoC hasten the decline of America's global leadership role in mental health?

RDoCs redux

RDoCs redux

News from the NIH: highlights in implementation science from the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Mental Health

There is interest in and support for activities related to implementation science (IS) at the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute for Mental Health. Since some of the activities we mention are identified under the broad heading of dissemination and implementation (D&I) research, we consider D&I and IS to be synonymous for purposes of this update. This column highlights some of the activities in the field in the hopes that investigators will use these opportunities and resources to build upon current knowledge and practice in IS. Below, we summarize new opportunities in research funding and review, a training institute for dissemination and implementation researchers, resources available, and a new demonstration project designed to bring patient-centered care to the primary care setting. Several of these initiatives are trans-National Institutes of Health (NIH) activities in which multiple institutes and centers participate. This update does not intend to cover all NIH activity in this area.

Designing, validation and feasibility of a yoga-based intervention for elderly

Context:Ageing is an unavoidable facet of life. Yogic practices have been reported to promote healthy aging. Previous studies have used either yoga therapy interventions derived from a particular school of yoga or have tested specific yogic practices like meditation.Aims:This study reports the development, validation and feasibility of a yoga-based intervention for elderly with or without mild cognitive impairment.Settings and Design:The study was conducted at the Advanced Centre for Yoga, National Institute for Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore. The module was developed, validated, and then pilot-tested on volunteers.Materials and Methods:The first part of the study consisted of designing of a yoga module based on traditional and contemporary yogic literature. This yoga module along with the three case vignettes of elderly with cognitive impairment were sent to 10 yoga experts to help develop the intended yoga-based intervention. In the second part, the feasibility of the developed yoga-based intervention was tested.Results:Experts (n=10) opined the yoga-based intervention will be useful in improving cognition in elderly, but with some modifications. Frequent supervised yoga sessions, regular follow-ups, addition/deletion/modifications of yoga postures were some of the suggestions. Ten elderly consented and eight completed the pilot testing of the intervention. All of them were able to perform most of the Sukṣmavyayāma, Prāṇāyāma and Nādānusaṇdhāna (meditation) technique without difficulty. Some of the participants (n=3) experienced difficulty in performing postures seated on the ground. Most of the older adults experienced difficulty in remembering and completing entire sequence of yoga-based intervention independently.Conclusions:The yoga based intervention is feasible in the elderly with cognitive impairment. Testing with a larger sample of older adults is warranted.

Assessing the effect of Measurement-Based Care depression treatment on HIV medication adherence and health outcomes: Rationale and design of the SLAM DUNC Study

Depression affects 20–30% of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in the U.S. and predicts greater sexual risk behaviors, lower antiretroviral (ARV) medication adherence, and worse clinical outcomes. Yet little experimental evidence addresses the critical clinical question of whether depression treatment improves ARV adherence and clinical outcomes in PLWHA with depression. The Strategies to Link Antidepressant and Antiretroviral Management at Duke, UAB, and UNC (SLAM DUNC) Study is a randomized clinical effectiveness trial funded by the National Institute for Mental Health. The objective of SLAM DUNC is to test whether a depression treatment program integrated into routine HIV clinical care affects ARV adherence. PLWHA with depression (n=390) are randomized to enhanced usual care or a depression treatment model called Measurement-Based Care (MBC). MBC deploys a clinically supervised Depression Care Manager (DCM) to provide evidence-based antidepressant treatment recommendations to a non-psychiatric prescribing provider, guided by systematic and ongoing measures of depressive symptoms and side effects. MBC has limited time requirements and the DCM role can be effectively filled by a range of personnel given appropriate training and supervision, enhancing replicability. In SLAM DUNC, MBC is integrated into HIV care to support HIV providers in antidepressant prescription and management. The primary endpoint is ARV adherence measured by unannounced telephone-based pill counts at 6months with follow-up to 12months and secondary endpoints including viral load, health care utilization, and depressive severity. Important outcomes of this study will be evidence of the effectiveness of MBC in treating depression in PLWHA and improving HIV-related outcomes.

A commentary on: Demonstrating the Effectiveness of Housing Support Services for People with Mental Health Problems: A Review by Nicholas Pleace and Alison Wallace, Centre for Housing Policy, University of York

PurposeThis paper is an extended review and expert commentary on a recently published study by the Centre for Housing Policy (CHP) which discusses the complexities of research in “housing related support” in the UK context, and proposes further work. This review aims to explore the strengths and limitations of the study; and the potential wider relevance outside the UK research context.Design/methodology/approachThe review methodology is traditionally that of expert opinion. The reviewer draws upon previous evaluation studies of mental health and housing, commissioned by the UK Dept of Health, the (Dept of) Communities and Local Government, the National Institute for Mental Health in England, and the Care Services Improvement Partnership, including additional material on the Mental Health Minimum Dataset.FindingsThe CHP report reviewed raises important questions over the complexities of evidencing innovative services. Despite some omissions, it should be helpful to health local commissioners in assessing the value of services; and the further research the report proposes is to be welcomed. The report also provides a useful introduction to “housing related support” for an international research audience, less familiar with the UK social policy and funding context.Originality/valueThe review introduces and recommends the CHP study – which is itself a valuable contribution to future research on housing‐related support – to a wider audience. The review also includes additional material never before published on the potential research value in the context of the Mental Health Minimum Dataset.