Equity in mental health and mental health care in Britain

Equity in mental health is an important social goal. The need for developing concepts theories and methods appropriate for measuring equity in this field has been recognised by many. This book addresses these issues by developing a conceptual structure to define equity in mental health and by analysing data from three national psychiatric morbidity surveys for Britain. Income-related inequalities are measured with reference to indicators of mental health which represent different levels of needs for services. Inequity in mental health services is examined by relating use of services to needs. The empirical work includes three separate strands of research covering analyses for the general population the minority ethnic groups of Britain and a comparison of 1993 and 2000 to see if the policy and practice changes that have taken place in the health and social care sectors since the beginning of the 1990s have had an impact on equity in mental health. This book should be of interest to students teachers policy makers or professionals in the mental health field and to any one who has an interest in equity issues in general.