Scottish Government

11. Data/Research

Recommendation

The following should be research priorities:

• To continuously monitor the epidemiology of co-morbid mental health and substance misuse issues in Scotland. Most of this data will be from community services but should include admissions and re-admissions to psychiatric hospitals in order to measure progress against Delivering for Mental Health targets.
• To evaluate of current good practices to ascertain efficiency and effectiveness.
• To study the impact of parental co-morbidity on children to begin exploring ways to better support families leading to more positive outcomes for children and adolescents
• To understand the prevalence, type and impact of co-morbidity present in the prison, psychiatric and general practice populations