Evidence
This section contains a brief overview of the research carried out in this area. The evidence is divided into the settings listed here.
View overview
The introduction to mental health promotion reviews the profound effect that poor levels of positive mental health and mental illness have on quality of life, morbidity and mortality. See also the Introduction section for this topic.
Interventions to promote positive mental health can be delivered to individuals or groups of individuals, through organisations, or via whole population, policy or structural level interventions.
Individual or group interventions are the simplest mental health promotion interventions to establish because they require fewer decision makers to agree to start the programme. They are also the easiest to measure and control, and are similar to clinical interventions. However, they only reach limited numbers of people and, therefore, organisational and whole population or policy interventions are also required to create mentally healthy societies.
Delivery through organisations benefits from an embedded approach to mental health because of their impact on the policies of the organisation. Interventions delivered at an organisational level have an additional benefit in that many people experience the intervention over a similar time period.
Population level, policy or structural level interventions seek to address social determinants of mental health. For maximum impact, mental health promotion should engage with each level of delivery.
Individual level: Interventions to promote mental health
View Methodology
Topics searched
We searched for studies looking at interventions to promote mental health in children aged 0 to 5 years old.
Studies with participants in secondary care or inpatient settings were excluded.
Dates and study types searched
We searched for systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials published from 1990 until October 2006.
Databases searched
We searched Medline, PsycInfo, and the Cochrane Library for relevant studies. We also searched Trip database, Health evidence.ca, and the WHO Health Evidence Network (HEN).
Search strategies
These are searches that have been conducted on Ovid Medline (http://gateway.ovid.com/). The other searches have been adapted from this one to accommodate the search engine of each specific database.
1. mental health/
2. (promot$ or support$ or enhanc$ or boost$ or improv$).ti,ab.
3. (mental adj2 well$being).ti,ab.
4. (psych$ adj2 well$being).ti,ab.
5. (mental health adj2 promot$).ti,ab.
6. (mental health adj2 support$).ti,ab.
7. (positive adj1 mental health).ti,ab.
8. (psychosocial$ adj2 health$).ti,ab.
9. 1 and 2
10. or/3-9
Filter
The following filter was used to include only randomised controlled trials or systematic reviews:
1. ("review" or "review academic" or "review tutorial").pt.
2. (medline or medlars or embase).tw,sh
3. (scisearch or psychinfo or psycinfo).tw,sh.
4. (psychlit or psyclit).tw,sh.
5. cinahl.tw,sh.
6. ((hand adj2 search$) or (manual$ adj2 search$)).tw,sh.
7. (electronic database$ or bibliographic database$ or computeri?ed database$ or online database$).tw,sh
8. (pooling or pooled or mantel haenszel).tw,sh.
9. (peto or dersimonian or der simonian or fixed effect).tw,sh.
10. or/2-9 47239
11. 1 and 10
12. meta-analysis.pt.
13. meta-analysis.sh.
14. (meta-analys$ or meta analys$ or metaanalys$).tw,sh.
15. (systematic$ adj5 review$).tw,sh.
16. (systematic$ adj5 overview$).tw,sh.
17. (quantitativ$ adj5 review$).tw,sh.
18. (quantitativ$ adj5 overview$).tw,sh.
19. (quantitativ$ adj5 synthesis$).tw,sh
20. (methodologic$ adj5 review$).tw,sh.
21. (methodologic$ adj5 overview$).tw,sh.
22. (integrative research review$ or research integration).tw.
23. or/12-22
24. 11 or 23
25. exp Randomized controlled trials/
26. "randomized controlled trial".pt.
27. "controlled clinical trial".pt.
28. (random$ or placebo$).ti,ab,sh.
29. ((singl$ or double$ or triple$ or treble$) and (blind$ or mask$)).tw,sh.
30. or/25-29
31. (animals not humans).sh.
32. 30 not 31
Organisational level: Interventions to promote mental health
View Methodology
Topics searched
We searched for studies looking at interventions to promote mental health in children aged 0 to 5 years old.
Studies with participants in secondary care or inpatient settings were excluded.
Dates and study types searched
We searched for systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials published from 1990 until October 2006.
Databases searched
We searched Medline, PsycInfo, and the Cochrane Library for relevant studies. We also searched Trip database, Health evidence.ca, and the WHO Health Evidence Network (HEN).
Search strategies
These are searches that have been conducted on Ovid Medline (http://gateway.ovid.com/). The other searches have been adapted from this one to accommodate the search engine of each specific database.
1. mental health/
2. (promot$ or support$ or enhanc$ or boost$ or improv$).ti,ab.
3. (mental adj2 well$being).ti,ab.
4. (psych$ adj2 well$being).ti,ab.
5. (mental health adj2 promot$).ti,ab.
6. (mental health adj2 support$).ti,ab.
7. (positive adj1 mental health).ti,ab.
8. (psychosocial$ adj2 health$).ti,ab.
9. 1 and 2
10. or/3-9
Filter
The following filter was used to include only randomised controlled trials or systematic reviews:
1. ("review" or "review academic" or "review tutorial").pt.
2. (medline or medlars or embase).tw,sh
3. (scisearch or psychinfo or psycinfo).tw,sh.
4. (psychlit or psyclit).tw,sh.
5. cinahl.tw,sh.
6. ((hand adj2 search$) or (manual$ adj2 search$)).tw,sh.
7. (electronic database$ or bibliographic database$ or computeri?ed database$ or online database$).tw,sh
8. (pooling or pooled or mantel haenszel).tw,sh.
9. (peto or dersimonian or der simonian or fixed effect).tw,sh.
10. or/2-9 47239
11. 1 and 10
12. meta-analysis.pt.
13. meta-analysis.sh.
14. (meta-analys$ or meta analys$ or metaanalys$).tw,sh.
15. (systematic$ adj5 review$).tw,sh.
16. (systematic$ adj5 overview$).tw,sh.
17. (quantitativ$ adj5 review$).tw,sh.
18. (quantitativ$ adj5 overview$).tw,sh.
19. (quantitativ$ adj5 synthesis$).tw,sh
20. (methodologic$ adj5 review$).tw,sh.
21. (methodologic$ adj5 overview$).tw,sh.
22. (integrative research review$ or research integration).tw.
23. or/12-22
24. 11 or 23
25. exp Randomized controlled trials/
26. "randomized controlled trial".pt.
27. "controlled clinical trial".pt.
28. (random$ or placebo$).ti,ab,sh.
29. ((singl$ or double$ or triple$ or treble$) and (blind$ or mask$)).tw,sh.
30. or/25-29
31. (animals not humans).sh.
32. 30 not 31