Social, cultural and community engagement and mental health: cross-disciplinary, co-produced research agenda

Fancourt, Daisy; Bhui, Kamaldeep; Chatterjee, Helen; Crawford, Paul; Crossick, Geoffrey; DeNora, Tia; South, Jane

Abstract

Background: There is increasing cross-disciplinary research on the relationship between individuals’ social, cultural and community engagement (SCCE) and mental health. SCCE includes engagement in the arts, culture and heritage, libraries and literature, sports and nature activities, volunteering, and community groups. Research has demonstrated the effects of these activities both on the prevention and management of mental illness. However, it remains unclear whether current research is focusing on the research questions that are of most immediate urgency and relevance to policy and practice.

Aims: The current project was funded as part of the UK Research and Innovation cross-disciplinary mental health network programme to develop and co-produce a new cross-disciplinary research agenda on SCCE and mental health.

Methods: Established process and principles for developing health research agendas were followed, with a six-phase design including engagement with over 1,000 key stakeholders, consultations, integration of findings, and collective prioritisation of key questions.
Results: We identified four core themes: the mode of engagement, process of engagement, impact of engagement, and infrastructure required to facilitate engagement. There were many points of agreement across all stakeholder groups on the priority questions within these themes, but also some specific questions of relevance to different sectors.

Conclusions: This agenda is particularly timely given the extreme pressure on mental health services predicted to follow the current Covid-19 pandemic. So it is important to identify how resources from other sectors can be mobilised, and what research questions are going to be most important to fund to support SCCE for mental health.

Citation

Fancourt, D., Bhui, K., Chatterjee, H., Crawford, P., Crossick, G., DeNora, T., & South, J. (2021). Social, cultural and community engagement and mental health: cross-disciplinary, co-produced research agenda. BJPsych Open, 7(1), Article e3. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2020.133

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 20, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Dec 1, 2020
• Publication Date: 2021-01
• Deposit Date: Oct 26, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 1, 2020
• Journal: BJPsych Open
• Electronic ISSN: 2056-4724
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: e3
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2020.133
• Keywords: Psychosocial interventions, community mental health, research agenda, social cultural
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4991625
• Publisher URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjpsych-open/article/social-cultural-and-community-engagement-and-mental-health-crossdisciplinary-coproduced-research-agenda/D3FAA940B69A957F4A252B4863A07C9B
• Additional Information: Copyright: Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal College of Psychiatrists; License: This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.; Free to read: This content has been made available to all.