in his recent study, gordon shen analyses a pertinent question facing the global mental health research and practice community today; that of how and why mental health policy is or is not adopted by national governments. this study identifies becoming a world health organization (who) member nation, and being in regional proximity to countries which have adopted a mental health policy as suppor...

factors influencing cross-national diffusion of mental health policy are important to understand but complex to research. this commentary discusses shen’s research study on cross-national diffusion of mental health policy; examines the extent to which the three questions researched by shen (whether countries are more likely to have a mental health policy (a) the earlier a country becomes a memb...

background following the tenets of world polity and innovation diffusion theories, i focus on the coercive and mimetic forces that influence the diffusion of mental health policy across nations. international organizations’ mandates influence government behavior. dependency on external resources, namely foreign aid, also affects governments’ formulation of national policy. and finally, mounting...

we typically think of acutely and chronically mentally ill patients as those who belong in psychiatric hospitals and the latter category of patients belonging in “regular” hospitals, but the intersection of physical and mental illness draws attention to important challenges for policy-makers and organizational leaders. this article illuminates some broad trends in the health status of people wi...

In his recent study, Gordon Shen analyses a pertinent question facing the global mental health research and practice community today; that of how and why mental health policy is or is not adopted by national governments. This study identifies becoming a World Health Organization (WHO) member nation, and being in regional proximity to countries which have adopted a mental health policy as suppor...

Factors influencing cross-national diffusion of mental health policy are important to understand but complex to research. This commentary discusses Shen’s research study on cross-national diffusion of mental health policy; examines the extent to which the three questions researched by Shen (whether countries are more likely to have a mental health policy (a) the earlier a country becomes a memb...

Background Following the tenets of world polity and innovation diffusion theories, I focus on the coercive and mimetic forces that influence the diffusion of mental health policy across nations. International organizations’ mandates influence government behavior. Dependency on external resources, namely foreign aid, also affects governments’ formulation of national policy. And finally, mounting...

OBJECTIVE This paper traces the background of involvement and increasing external activity of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) in the policy and project area. CONCLUSIONS Throughout 2008, representatives of the RANZCP paused to review progress and celebrate successes in the implementation of the College's stated aim to develop an externally focussed polic...