Public Health Scotland has established a Mental Health Indicators project to make relevant data more accessible to local and national users. These outputs support the use of data to improve population mental health through,

• more effective planning
• more efficient resource allocation
• consistently applying best practice
• more effective policies

Two sets of mental health indicators have been created, one set for adult mental health and one for children and young people. In each indicator set, indicators are grouped by type:

• mental health outcomes — mental wellbeing and common mental health problems
• contextual factors — the determinants (risk factors and protective factors) of these outcomes

The indicator sets show the wide range of factors that influence public mental health, and emphasise the importance of structural factors such as work and poverty.

A multi-agency Advisory Group is informing this work. Collaboration is at the heart of the Mental Health Indicators project and we have an ongoing workstream that aims to ensure our outputs meet user needs. To find out more about how the indicator sets were developed you can view the Mental Health Indicator process paper.