Who decides what evidence is? Developing a multiple perspectives paradigm in mental health.
OBJECTIVE
To compare different perspectives on evidence in relation to mental health care.


METHODS
The method and materials constitute a selective literature review comparing key elements of evidence-based medicine and evidence-based policy with perspectives on evidence from users, carers and professionals. The aim was to develop an argument concerning these comparisons.


RESULTS
What constitutes evidence from the perspectives of different stakeholders is a field of contestation.


CONCLUSIONS
It is timely for a multiple perspective paradigm on evidence in science to be developed and this paper initiates this process in relation to mental health care.
Rose
D
D
Service User Research Enterprise (SURE), Health Services Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London, UK. d.rose@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Thornicroft
G
G
Slade
M
M
D001290:Attitude; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006291:Health Policy; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D011050:Policy Making; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D006113:United Kingdom