[Social deprivation and mental health. Replicability and applicability in the Italian context of the resource allocation methods developed in the United Kingdom].
OBJECTIVE
Most of the available evidence on the relationship between socioeconomic indicators of social deprivation and patterns of use of mental health services has been produced in the United Kingdom, where the Ministry of Health has developed a resource allocation formula based upon the results of those studies. The main aim of the paper is to evaluate the replicability in the Italian context of such research, and of the resulting allocation strategies.


METHODS
Detailed description of the resource allocation method currently adopted in the United Kingdom, whose main purpose consists in reaching the best balance between available funding and patterns of need. Detailed description of resource allocation processes in Italy; discussion of the main methodological and statistical limitations restraining the replicability of the British formula in the Italian context.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a growing interest in Italy towards the introduction of evidence-based methods in health decision making, in order to correct the overwhelming influence of political issues. What is needed is a better understanding of the relationship between higher levels of equity in health services access, and their effects in terms of better outcomes.
Tibaldi
Giuseppe
G
Centro Studi e Ricerche in Psichiatria, ASL Torino 4, Torino. giuseppetibaldi@tin.it
Glover
Gyles
G
Costa
Giuseppe
G
Petrelli
Alessio
A
Munizza
Carmine
C
D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D040841:Resource Allocation / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D006113:United Kingdom