Dr Jane Parkinson

Dr Jane Parkinson has led on work to establish national adult mental health indicators for Scotland, ensuring that a greater amount of mental health data (covering mental wellbeing, mental health problems, mental health determinants and outcomes) is collected consistently through the Scottish national surveys, and has commissioned work to develop the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS).

insertimageI began work on establishing a national set of adult mental health indicators for the National Programme with no prior experience of working in the area of mental health. Like many, I was aware of the impact that mental health problems have on individuals and society, but mental health improvement was new to me. As I started to understand the complexities and wide ranging nature of mental health and mental health improvement the importance of being able to assess the overall mental health status of the Scottish population and to track its progress was evident. Only with such a monitoring system would we be able to tell if mental health was improving in Scotland.

Several years on from when I became involved in the National Programme, I understand and appreciate the huge importance of mental health improvement to everybody. We now have an indicator set for adults and a greater amount of mental health data (covering mental wellbeing, mental health problems, mental health determinants and outcomes) being collected consistently through the national surveys. Importantly a new scale developed for the indicator programme is allowing population mental wellbeing to be assessed for the first time in Scotland. Using these indicators we can now assess and monitor the overall mental health of the adult Scottish population. This is a big achievement.

What has inspired you most in this time? And frustrated you most?

My biggest frustration has been the frequent response by people unfamiliar to the mental health field that mental health is only about mental health problems, overlooking the equally important aspect of mental wellbeing. Admittedly, before being involved with the National Programme I also immediately equated mental health with mental health problems. However, through full discussion of my work with such individuals, it has been clear to me that people very quickly change their understanding of mental health when informed and can see the real value of mental health improvement and the essential need to measure it to monitor progress. This change around of an understanding to enthusiasm and excitement about mental health improvement work and its assessment has been inspiring.

What is your understanding of ‘a mentally flourishing Scotland’ in relation to your particular area of interest?

For assessment of the population’s mental health, a mentally flourishing Scotland is one where the trends for the indicators are all going in the right direction. Thus, mental wellbeing is increasing, mental health problems are decreasing, the risk factors for mental health decreasing and the protective factors increasing in the population.

What do you consider are the three most important actions required at this stage for the future of mental health improvement in Scotland?

In relation to the assessment of Scotland’s mental health, the most important actions are:

  • To continue to monitor population mental health and to use the information to inform decisions by policy-makers and planners
  • To establish a set of indicators to assess the mental health of children and young people in Scotland
  • To work to improve the evidence base for mental health improvement