Interventions to mitigate the effects of poverty and inequality on mental health

Purpose To review psychosocial and policy interventions which mitigate the effects of poverty and inequality on mental health. Methods Systematic reviews, controlled trials and realist evaluations of the last 10 years are reviewed, without age or geographical restrictions. Results Effective psychoso...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 2017-05, Vol.52 (5), p.505-514
Main Authors: Wahlbeck, Kristian, Cresswell-Smith, Johanna, Haaramo, Peija, Parkkonen, Johannes
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Analysis
Community Mental Health Services - methods
Economic aspects
Epidemiology
Health Policy
Humans
Invited Reviews
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental disorders
Mental Disorders - prevention & control
Mental Disorders - psychology
Mental health
Mental Health - legislation & jurisprudence
Mental illness
Parenting
Poverty
Poverty - psychology
Psychiatry
Socioeconomic Factors
Young Adult
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Summary:Purpose To review psychosocial and policy interventions which mitigate the effects of poverty and inequality on mental health. Methods Systematic reviews, controlled trials and realist evaluations of the last 10 years are reviewed, without age or geographical restrictions. Results Effective psychosocial interventions on individual and family level, such as parenting support programmes, exist. The evidence for mental health impact of broader community-based interventions, e.g. community outreach workers, or service-based interventions, e.g. social prescribing and debt advice is scarce. Likewise, the availability of evidence for the mental health impact of policy level interventions, such as poverty alleviation or youth guarantee, is quite restricted. Conclusions The social, economic, and physical environments in which people live shape mental health and many common mental disorders. There are effective early interventions to promote mental health in vulnerable groups, but it is necessary to both initiate and facilitate a cross-sectoral approach, and to form partnerships between different government departments, civic society organisations and other stakeholders. This approach is referred to as Mental Health in All Policies and it can be applied to all public policy levels from local policies to supranational.
ISSN:0933-7954
1433-9285
DOI:10.1007/s00127-017-1370-4