Monitoring of mental health systems and services: comparison of four existing indicator schemes.
BACKGROUND
A public mental health indicator scheme may be defined as a systematic collection of brief proxy measures that represent summary information on variables that are potentially influenced by or relevant to mental health systems, programmes and services. Existing public mental health indicator schemes have been developed in or for high-income countries.


METHODS
The paper describes and compares four existing high-income country public mental health indicator schemes and highlights key observations.


RESULTS
The range of indicators and subclasses of indicators covered by the four existing schemes is large. There was only one item (indicator) that was covered by more than one scheme.


CONCLUSIONS
The variety of possibilities in indicators and types of indicators suggests a lack of consensus in the essential contents of an indicator scheme. There is a need for a public mental health indicator scheme that is applicable in resource-poor countries.
Mental Health: Evidence and Research, Dept. of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, World Health Organization, Avenue Appia, Geneva, 1211 Switzerland. saxenas@who.int
Shekhar
S
Saxena
Mark
M
van Ommeren
Antonio
A
Lora
Benedetto
B
Saraceno
D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004739:England; D005062:European Union; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D014481:United States