IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v123y2014icp262-268.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Engaging civil society through deliberative dialogue to create the first Mental Health Strategy for Canada: Changing Directions, Changing Lives

Author

Listed:
  • Mulvale, Gillian
  • Chodos, Howard
  • Bartram, Mary
  • MacKinnon, Mary Pat
  • Abud, Manon

Abstract

Citizen engagement through deliberative dialogue is increasingly being used to address ‘wicked problems’ in policy-making, such as the development of national mental health policy. In 2012, the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), a national organization funded by and operating at arm's length from the federal government, released the first Mental Health Strategy for Canada: Changing Directions, Changing Lives (Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2012). Despite much-needed reform, Canada, unlike most other industrialized countries, had never previously developed a national Mental Health Strategy (the Strategy). This was due to a mix of policy factors, including a federalist system of government where primary responsibility for healthcare resides with provincial and territorial governments and a highly diverse set of stakeholder groups with diverging core ideas for mental health reform that were rooted in deeply held value differences. In this case study, we review the essential role that engagement of civil society played in the creation of the Strategy, beginning with the efforts to create a national body to shine the light on the need for mental health reform in Canada, followed by the development of a framework of specific goals based on core principles to guide the development of the Strategy, and ultimately, the creation of the Strategy itself. We discuss the various approaches to civil society engagement in each step of this process and focus in particular on how deliberative approaches helped build trust and common ground amongst stakeholders around complex, and often contentious, issues. The nature and outcomes of the deliberative processes including the key tensions between different stakeholder perspectives and values are described. We close by highlighting the lessons learned in a process that culminated with a Strategy that received strong endorsement from stakeholders across Canada.

Suggested Citation

  • Mulvale, Gillian & Chodos, Howard & Bartram, Mary & MacKinnon, Mary Pat & Abud, Manon, 2014. "Engaging civil society through deliberative dialogue to create the first Mental Health Strategy for Canada: Changing Directions, Changing Lives," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 262-268.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:123:y:2014:i:c:p:262-268
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.07.029
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953614004584
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.07.029?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abelson, Julia, 2001. "Understanding the role of contextual influences on local health-care decision making: case study results from Ontario, Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 53(6), pages 777-793, September.
    2. Boyko, Jennifer A. & Lavis, John N. & Abelson, Julia & Dobbins, Maureen & Carter, Nancy, 2012. "Deliberative dialogues as a mechanism for knowledge translation and exchange in health systems decision-making," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(11), pages 1938-1945.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Haldane, Victoria & Singh, Shweta R. & Srivastava, Aastha & Chuah, Fiona L.H. & Koh, Gerald C.H. & Chia, Kee Seng & Perel, Pablo & Legido-Quigley, Helena, 2020. "Community involvement in the development and implementation of chronic condition programmes across the continuum of care in high- and upper-middle income countries: A systematic review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(4), pages 419-437.
    2. Schoemaker, Casper G. & van Loon, Jeanne & Achterberg, Peter W. & van den Berg, Matthijs & Harbers, Maartje M. & den Hertog, Frank R.J. & Hilderink, Henk & Kommer, Geertjan & Melse, Johan & van Oers, , 2019. "The Public Health Status and Foresight report 2014: Four normative perspectives on a healthier Netherlands in 2040," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 252-259.
    3. Skempes, Dimitrios & Kiekens, Carlotte & Malmivaara, Anti & Michail, Xanthi & Bickenbach, Jerome & Stucki, Gerold, 2022. "Supporting government policies to embed and expand rehabilitation in health systems in Europe: A framework for action," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(3), pages 158-172.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bruen, Carlos & Brugha, Ruairi, 2020. "“We’re not there to protect ourselves, we’re there to talk about workforce planning”: A qualitative study of policy dialogues as a mechanism to inform medical workforce planning," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(7), pages 736-742.
    2. Evans, Sarah & Scarbrough, Harry, 2014. "Supporting knowledge translation through collaborative translational research initiatives: ‘Bridging’ versus ‘blurring’ boundary-spanning approaches in the UK CLAHRC initiative," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 119-127.
    3. Mathieu J. P. Poirier & Karen A. Grépin & Michel Grignon, 2020. "Approaches and Alternatives to the Wealth Index to Measure Socioeconomic Status Using Survey Data: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 1-46, February.
    4. Hoelting, Kristin R. & Morse, Joshua W. & Gould, Rachelle K. & Martinez, Doreen E. & Hauptfeld, Rina S. & Cravens, Amanda E. & Breslow, Sara J. & Bair, Lucas S. & Schuster, Rudy M. & Gavin, Michael C., 2024. "Opportunities for improved consideration of cultural benefits in environmental decision-Making," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    5. Thurston, Wilfreda E. & MacKean, Gail & Vollman, Ardene & Casebeer, Ann & Weber, Myron & Maloff, Bretta & Bader, Judy, 2005. "Public participation in regional health policy: a theoretical framework," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 237-252, September.
    6. Joanne Lawrence-Bourne & Hazel Dalton & David Perkins & Jane Farmer & Georgina Luscombe & Nelly Oelke & Nasser Bagheri, 2020. "What Is Rural Adversity, How Does It Affect Wellbeing and What Are the Implications for Action?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-13, October.
    7. Deng, Chung-Yeh & Wu, Chia-Ling, 2010. "An innovative participatory method for newly democratic societies: The "civic groups forum" on national health insurance reform in Taiwan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(6), pages 896-903, March.
    8. Pivik, Jayne & Rode, Elisabeth & Ward, Christopher, 2004. "A consumer involvement model for health technology assessment in Canada," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 253-268, August.
    9. Abelson, Julia & Forest, Pierre-Gerlier & Eyles, John & Casebeer, Ann & Martin, Elisabeth & Mackean, Gail, 2007. "Examining the role of context in the implementation of a deliberative public participation experiment: Results from a Canadian comparative study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(10), pages 2115-2128, May.
    10. Lopes, Edilene & Carter, Drew & Street, Jackie, 2015. "Power relations and contrasting conceptions of evidence in patient-involvement processes used to inform health funding decisions in Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 84-91.
    11. de Goede, Joyce & Putters, Kim & van Oers, Hans, 2012. "Utilization of epidemiological research for the development of local public health policy in the Netherlands: A case study approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(5), pages 707-714.
    12. Montesanti, Stephanie Rose & Abelson, Julia & Lavis, John N. & Dunn, James R., 2015. "The value of frameworks as knowledge translation mechanisms to guide community participation practice in Ontario CHCs," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 223-231.
    13. Chung, Phillip & Grogan, Colleen M. & Mosley, Jennifer E., 2012. "Residents' perceptions of effective community representation in local health decision-making," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(10), pages 1652-1659.
    14. Geoffrey Meads & Grant Russell & Amanda Lees, 2017. "Community governance in primary health care: towards an international Ideal Type," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(4), pages 554-574, October.
    15. Maluka, Stephen & Kamuzora, Peter & Sebastiån, Miguel San & Byskov, Jens & Olsen, Øystein E. & Shayo, Elizabeth & Ndawi, Benedict & Hurtig, Anna-Karin, 2010. "Decentralized health care priority-setting in Tanzania: Evaluating against the accountability for reasonableness framework," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(4), pages 751-759, August.
    16. Dorota Sienkiewicz & Alison Maassen & Iñaki Imaz-Iglesia & Elisa Poses-Ferrer & Helen McAvoy & Rita Horgan & Miguel Telo de Arriaga & Andrew Barnfield, 2020. "Shaping Policy on Chronic Diseases through National Policy Dialogs in CHRODIS PLUS," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-20, September.
    17. Collins, Patricia A. & Abelson, Julia & Eyles, John D., 2007. "Knowledge into action?: Understanding ideological barriers to addressing health inequalities at the local level," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 158-171, January.
    18. Hamid Golhasany & Blane Harvey, 2023. "Capacity development for knowledge mobilization: a scoping review of the concepts and practices," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    19. Schoemaker, Casper G. & van Loon, Jeanne & Achterberg, Peter W. & van den Berg, Matthijs & Harbers, Maartje M. & den Hertog, Frank R.J. & Hilderink, Henk & Kommer, Geertjan & Melse, Johan & van Oers, , 2019. "The Public Health Status and Foresight report 2014: Four normative perspectives on a healthier Netherlands in 2040," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 252-259.
    20. Djellouli, Nehla & Jones, Lorelei & Barratt, Helen & Ramsay, Angus I.G. & Towndrow, Steven & Oliver, Sandy, 2019. "Involving the public in decision-making about large-scale changes to health services: A scoping review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(7), pages 635-645.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:123:y:2014:i:c:p:262-268. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.