Working group topics

Working group 1. Defining empowerment

A WHO position paper on the meaning of user empowerment in mental health is being co-written by this working group, leading the way to the development of indicators of good practice in empowerment. These will be usable for implementation of empowerment activities in different countries.

Working group 2. Indicators and benchmarking

The group is developing a set of indicators of user and carer empowerment in mental health. The indicators and the benchmarking criteria to be developed will be aimed at Ministries and agents at the community level, including health systems.

Working group 3. Success and failure factors

An essential question that will point the way towards resulting recommendations is which factors contribute to success and to failure in the implementation of good practice in user empowerment in mental health on the national and local level. This working group is identifying factors that make empowerment activities successful or challenging.

Working group 4. Best practice

Once standards and indicators have been developed, examples of good practice in defined areas will be identified.

Working group 5. Dissemination

The key outcome of the project is the dissemination of ideas and evidence to decision-makers in policy contexts and among stakeholders in key sectors across the European Region, aiding the implementation of good practice. For this purpose, a WHO-EC Report on user empowerment in mental health will be produced and disseminated. The working group on dissemination will be formed in the last year of project implementation (2010).