Mental Health and Wellbeing

Diverse hands holding the words 'Mental Health'

RAND Europe’s growing work in the field of mental health and wellbeing draws on expertise from across a range of disciplines and methodological backgrounds to bring an innovative perspective to our projects.

  • Our well-established reputation in healthcare research is complemented by extensive science policy expertise, particularly in the field of research evaluation.
  • A specialist evaluation group brings rigorous and cutting-edge methodologies to a broad range of projects.
  • Our extensive experience in employment policy has led to high impact work on the increasingly prominent topic of mental wellbeing in the workplace.

    • Featured Research

    • Illustration of people protecting their money, photo by SurfupVector/Adobe Stock

      Can workplace financial interventions support the mental health of young adults?

      08 Mar 2021

      Participation in workplace financial wellbeing interventions is associated with better mental health, particularly amongst certain subgroups of workers, according to survey data from healthiest workplace competitions.

    • Illustration of wellbeing at work, photo by Gerhard Ledwinka/Adobe Stock

      Practices and combinations of practices for health and wellbeing at work

      29 Aug 2019

      Researchers are examining the factors that enable or hinder the implementation of workplace health and wellbeing practices. The research will consider whether certain combinations of practices are more effective than other combinations, or effective for some types of organisations and not others.

    • Smiling employees having meal in office lunchroom, photo by WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobe Stock

      Britain's Healthiest Workplace survey findings

      25 Nov 2019

      Absence and presenteeism accounts for an average of 38 days' lost productivity per employee per year, marking an upward trend in lost productivity since 2014, when the number was only 23 days.

    • Desktop with 'Mental Health' on notepad

      Understanding Mental Health in the Research Environment

      22 Aug 2017

      Burnout and stress can be a challenge for university research staff and postgraduates. An exploration of the strengths and limitations of the existing evidence base on mental health in the research environment found that more work is needed to understand both the needs of researchers and how they can be addressed.

    • Businessman looking at mobile phone

      Computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (cCBT) Has Positive Impact

      19 Oct 2016

      Studies of cCBT tools indicate that they have a positive effect on many mental health outcomes, particularly for those with depression, anxiety disorders and insomnia. Fewer studies examined work-related effects, but those were also positive.

    • Illustration of profile and visible brain with world planisphere

      Mapping the Global Mental Health Research Funding System

      25 Mar 2016

      To support the coordination of mental health research, RAND Europe mapped the research funding ‘ecosystem’. Researchers explored who the major funders are, what kinds of research they support, and how their strategies relate to one another.

    • Illustration of Alzheimer's Disease

      Mapping the UK’s Dementia Research Landscape and Workforce Capacity

      10 Sep 2015

      The number of people with dementia worldwide is predicted to rise threefold by 2050. Researchers conducted an analysis of the UK's dementia research landscape and workforce capacity to inform research funding and capacity building efforts to ensure proper treatment, prevention, care, and greater scientific understanding of this condition.

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      Learning from Medical Breakthroughs to Improve Treatment for Dementia

      04 Aug 2015

      Aiming to better understand the contexts that have contributed to breakthroughs in treatment, this project analysed breakthroughs in four conditions of ill health and sought to identify potentially transferable lessons for the dementia context.

    • stressed woman at work

      Psychological Wellbeing and Work in the UK

      20 Jan 2014

      Mental ill-health is associated with high economic and social costs and represents a significant policy challenge in the UK: Mental health is now one of the leading reasons for people claiming sickness absence benefits. Public sector stakeholders commissioned RAND Europe to identify approaches to improve the effectiveness and alignment of health and employment services to achieve better employment outcomes for individuals with mental health problems.

    • Photo illustration of researcher and brain

      International Comparative Performance of Mental Health Research

      05 Nov 2013

      Scientific understanding of mental health and its neurobiological and psychosocial underpinnings has greatly increased in the last three decades. Yet, little is known about the landscape of this knowledge and how and where it is evolving. Through the Alliance for Mental Health Research, RAND Europe conducted a bibliometric assessment of mental health research (MHR) outputs from 1980 to 2011. The study demonstrated that bibliometrics can help highlight the potential drivers of variation in performance of MHR systems and provides an analytical basis for benchmarking MHR trends in the future.

    • Fish Schizophrene by Bryan Charnley

      Mental Health Retrosight Study Sheds Light on What Makes Biomedical Research More Likely to Benefit Patients

      28 Oct 2013

      The Mental Health Retrosight study of 20 years of research in the field of schizophrenia shows how research projects that successfully translated into patient benefit share certain characteristics, such as multidisciplinary researchers or teams, and clinically-oriented rather than basic research topics. These attributes could be selected for, promoted or nurtured to increase the impact of future research on improving patients’ lives.

    • depressed teen girl

      Analysis of EU Survey Suggests Ways to Manage Psychosocial Risks at Work

      22 Oct 2012

      Analysis of data collected in the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks finds that establishments on the whole appear to be taking systemic approaches to the management of psychosocial risks. The size of establishment and country are the strongest determinants of the scope of managing these risks, but management of psychosocial risks in European establishments appears to lag behind the management of general occupational safety and health risks.

    • Two adults talking

      Peer Worker Programme Shows Positive Early Impacts, But Opportunities for Improvement Exist

      04 Sep 2012

      Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust asked RAND Europe to evaluate the early stages of its peer worker programme, an initiative in which people with personal experience of mental health challenges are employed to support those currently receiving services. The evaluation indicated that the programme is having a positive impact and also highlighted a number of areas for improvement associated with its implementation.

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      Evaluating the Science of Science for Mental Health: Translating Research into Practice

      03 Mar 2011

      RAND played a key role in the early years of the International Alliance of Mental Health Research Funders (formerly the Science of Science for Mental Health Initiative) supporting the Graham Boeckh Foundation to establish a 'think tank without borders' to undertake research and analysis into mental health research funding.