Views of Wirral public needed for survey on mental health and wellbeing (From Wirral Globe)

Views of Wirral public needed for survey on mental health and wellbeing

4:12pm Thursday 11th October 2012 in News

A SECOND door-to-door survey on mental health and wellbeing is set to begin in Wirral next week.

Designed by Liverpool John Moores University, it contains questions about a person, their lifestyle and their general health and wellbeing.

It follows the same format as the health and wellbeing survey carried out in 2009 and aims to measure changes since then.

Fiona Johnstone, Wirral’s director of public health, said: “Mental health is often more associated with mental ill-health rather than positive mental wellbeing, but everyone has mental health needs.

“Improving positive mental health has been a growing priority over the last decade.

“Measuring levels of mental health in Wirral will help us to identify where improvement has been made since 2009 and where there is still work to be done.

“We will be able to use the results to plan and shape future services to help people live happier and healthier lives.”

Starting next week, trained interviewers from MRUK Research Ltd will be visiting the homes of a random sample of 1,000 local people and inviting them to take part in the survey.

It takes no more than 25 minutes to complete and can be completed anonymously, privately and confidentially.

erviewers will use handheld electronic devices to input the data in order to prevent any bias.

The Wirral sample is part of a wider survey taking place across the North West between now and January. Altogether, it is expected that 11,500 people will be asked about their mental health and wellbeing.

Initial results from the study will be available in March, with the full report available in July.

The interviewers will carry identification at all times.