Development of Mental Health Indicators for Scotland

How do we know if Scotland is becoming more mentally healthy or less so? Are there variations in mental wellbeing between different areas of Scotland? How does Scotland's mental health and wellbeing compare to that of other countries?

NHS Health Scotland is working to answer these questions and more by developing a set of standard measures (indicators) that can be used to gauge changes in the mental health and wellbeing of Scotland's population.

Latest news and progress

View the latest briefing paper on how the development of mental health indicators is progressing below:

>To view past briefing papers and progress information visit Health Scotland’s Mental Health Indicators section online.

What is an 'indicator' of mental health and wellbeing?

Researchers at Warwick and Edinburgh Universities were asked to take an existing scale (the Affectometer 2), which showed potential to measure the mental wellbeing of the population in New Zealand, test it and develop a revised and shortened scale for use within the UK. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) is a 14 point scale in which individuals respond to questions about their thoughts and feelings. Researchers are then able to measure an individual's positive mental wellbeing. The aim is to incorporate WEMWBS into the Scottish Health Survey to asses the positive mental health of the population. Information on this research and WEMWBS is outlined in the briefing note below:

The final set of indicators will cover personal, local and national mental health and wellbeing and will consider positive
Mental Health Problems:
Mental Health Problems arise when a problem, life event or situation, disrupts the way we think and feel. This can either be temporary – for example, following a bereavement – or be more enduring. Mental health problems can include suffering stress, constant worrying…
moremental health as well as mental ill health.

What will the indicators be used for?

One of the first uses for the indicators will be to measure the current state of Scotland's mental health and wellbeing. This information will help to inform policy development in many different areas, but particularly those around the provision of services.

Regular updates will help to establish how effective any new policies are and to plan new work to meet any needs identified.

Research Aims

The work on establishing a set of indicators has six key stages. These are:

  • To identify a set of defined indicators for public mental health that are relevant to mental health improvement in Scotland;
  • To review current data sources and datasets available on a national basis;
  • To develop consensus on a set of indicators that are practical to monitor over time;
  • To recommend new data collection to fill the gaps in the agreed set of indicators;
  • To explore new ways of collecting additional data to fill the gaps in the agreed set of indicators and develop a system of data collection for potential new indicators;
  • To ensure continued data collection of both current and new data.

Further information

For more information and updates on this work, visit Health Scotland's web pages on Mental Health Indicators