Prevention and promotion
Good mental health is an integral component of overall health and wellbeing. It empowers people to better manage life's stresses, learn, work, reach their potential, build positive relationships and participate in community life.
Social determinants of health - including social, economic, geopolitical, and environmental circumstances - can interact to influence mental health. Factors that are detrimental to mental health include:
- violence
- poverty
- discrimination
- stigma
- environmental deprivation
The social and environmental conditions in which people are born, live, grow, and age are thought to contribute to around 50% of the unfair differences or inequalities in health.
The social determinants of mental health, often referred to as ‘wider’ determinants or the ‘causes of the causes’ of poor mental health, include:
- adverse early life experiences
- educational outcomes
- working conditions and unemployment
- poverty and debt
- food insecurity
- access to good quality housing and green space
- isolation and loneliness
- relationships
- poor access to healthcare
Prevention and promotion approaches allow for more proactive action towards the social determinants of mental health. While tertiary and secondary prevention strategies aim to manage or reduce harm through early intervention and treatment, primary prevention shifts the focus upstream to prevent issues from arising in the first place.
This is achieved through population-level actions that reduce risk, strengthen protective factors, build resilience, and create supportive environments for good mental health.
The OECD provides further information on the economics of prevention. At the same time, the Mental Health Foundation published the economic case for investing in preventing mental health conditions in the UK in 2022.
The Scottish Government and Convention of Scottish Local Authorities ( COSLA) “Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy” identifies three key focus areas to help achieve its outcomes. These are:
- Promote positive mental health and wellbeing for the whole population, improving understanding and tackling stigma, inequality and discrimination
- Prevent mental health issues from occurring or escalating and tackle underlying causes, adversities and inequalities wherever possible
- Provide mental health and wellbeing support and care, ensuring people and communities can access the correct information, skills, services and opportunities in the right place at the right time, using a person-centred approach
The priorities set out in the strategy include a commitment to work across Scottish and local government to develop a joint approach with partners to understand and share responsibility for promoting mental health and wellbeing and to apply prevention-based approaches.
Public Health Scotland’s work
Our approach focuses on promoting and preventing mental health in the general population, with greater attention to primary prevention. PHS seeks to be involved and work in partnership with stakeholders, including public services, community and third-sector organisations, and other partners. Working together, we can make positive social, economic, and physical changes to improve mental health and wellbeing through population-based primary prevention approaches.
Our work on preventing mental health problems and improving mental wellbeing supports:
- policy
- planning
- strategy
We aim to:
- embed a shared understanding of prevention and promotion approaches across all sectors
- strengthen our understanding of ‘what works’ in prevention and promotion methods
- coordinate actions and promote strong partnership arrangements