Mental health indicators in Russia: A study of the availability of european indicators for the MINDFUL project

This summary report is based on a joint Finnish-Russian exploratory study by the Mental Health Group of the Finnish National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES) and the Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry (MRIP), Clinico-Social Department
(Outpatient Psychiatry and Mental Health Organization Unit), conducted in September 2005–February 2007. The MINDFUL (Mental Health Information and Determinants for the European Level) Project (2004–2006), co-funded by the Public Health Programme of the European Commission, was aimed at improving mental health information within the European Union. The MINDFUL
mental health indicator set comprises 35 mental health indicators for monitoring mental health in the EU Member States. Of these, 18 indicators were register-based and derived from annual statistics, 15 indicators related to population survey data, and two required special system-level surveys. The aim of this study was to search for and collect the available Russian national annual data on the MINDFUL mental health indicators and to draw conclusions on their reliability and comparability with those of the EU countries. This has never been done before. A comprehensive analysis of the data taken from the key Russian mental health statistical bodies did not form part
of the study, although evident correlations and discrepancies between them have been revealed and commented on. Stage I of the study focused on the thorough analysis of the Russian Federation (RF) national and regional health statistics procedures as well as the availability of MINDFUL mental health indicators for Russia. In the RF, five major statistical bodies, including the Federal State Statistics Service, Rosstat, as well as the Ministry of Health and Social Development (MHSD) and its three institutions – the Central Scientific and Research Institute for Organisation and Informatisation of Public Health, the Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry, and the Scientific and Research Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry named after V. Serbsky – implement state and ministerial(both defined as official) statistics for 11 out of 18 register-based MINDFUL indicators, thus making them available for Russia. Of the 11 available register-based MINDFUL indicators for Russia, two are based on mortality statistics, three on health resources-related statistics, four cover psychiatric care utilisation and two deal with social welfare services. Of the 15 survey-based MINDFUL indicators, one (on self-reported happiness) is available due to longitudinal international survey studies in which Russia has been involved. Two more survey-based indicators (on sense of mastery and self-esteem) are basically available for 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, but will need to be retrieved from the 1992–2005 Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey files. Russian participation in the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO EURO) monitoring of national suicide prevention activities provided an additional indicator available for Russia. Thus, a total of 13 MINDFUL indicators proved to be available for Russia. Stage II aimed to collect and arrange the available RF national MINDFUL mental health indicators obtained from the key Russian mental health statistics bodies. For comparison, the relevant statistics on RF MINDFUL indicators were also obtained from the WHO Health for All
database. The Russian national state and ministerial statistics on mental health obtained from the major RF statistical bodies proved to be reliable and comparable with each other as well as with the relevant data for RF from WHO EURO. In general, the RF data also seemed adequate compared to European data available from the MINDFUL Database. The large amounts of RF statistics on
European mental health indicators obtained during the course of the study have enriched the MINDFUL project database and will serve in the benchmarking of population mental health in Russia against EU member states.

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