Professor Alec Morton has been invited to join an advisory group for research on the economics of mental health prevention, meeting for the first time on May 24 to discuss the scope of the project.
The research project will be led by David McDaid at the London School of Economics, and the first meeting took place on May 24 where attendees discussed the scope of the project.
The purpose of the project is to produce an authoritative review of the evidence base for prevention, showing what works, what doesn’t and where more evidence is needed. This will include an updated cost of mental health to the four nations of the UK and the returns on investment. It will also look at the barriers to/enablers of policy change.
There will also be an in-depth examination of specific prevention actions, interventions or initiatives from an economic perspective in Scotland, with a particular focus on inequalities for specific demographic groups. The demographic groups will be determined jointly by the Mental Health Foundation and the London School of Economics. The focus should be on core inequalities that were evident prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy briefing paper from this examination is to be completed by April 30 2022.