Methodology

The Monitoring Framework was developed to track the outcomes of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. Its purpose is to link the Strategy’s outcomes to available national data sources and identify where measurement is possible and where gaps remain. The full monitoring framework is available as a supporting document attached to this report.

The development of the framework involved a full review of all 9 Summary Outcomes and the 34 Sequenced Outcomes. Each outcome was assessed against published data on mental health and wellbeing in Scotland, including statistics from the Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland (PHS), and other relevant organisations. Data were included if they were quantitative, publicly available, routinely updated, and relevant to the Strategy outcomes.

Input from a Monitoring and Evaluation Group guided the selection of metrics and the approach to monitoring.

During this process, it became clear that not all outcomes are suitable for monitoring using routinely collected quantitative data. Some outcomes are better explored through qualitative insight. These include:

• Three summary outcomes
• Three short-term outcomes
• Two medium-term outcomes
• One long-term outcome

These outcomes primarily relate to:

• Adoption of a “mental health in all policies” approach
• Involvement of people with lived experience and staff practitioners
• Use of evidence to inform policy and practice

In addition, one short-term outcome and one long-term outcome currently have no data available, although monitoring would be possible if data existed.

Of the 43 total outcomes, 6 summary outcomes and 26 sequenced outcomes could be successfully linked to existing data sources. The remaining 11 outcomes either cannot be monitored using routinely collected quantitative data (9 outcomes) or currently have no data available (2 outcomes).

It is important to note that the monitoring framework should be considered a live document. The framework will be reviewed ahead of future monitoring reports to ensure any new or updated data is included.