The Aim of the Article
The article chosen for the analysis strives to explore the correlation between the social determinants and the development of mental illnesses in people in different stages of their lives. The study is focused on analyzing mental illnesses as the moving power of society’s functioning. In general, the various disorders which negatively affect the lives of millions of people all over the globe are caused by the deeper socially-conditioned constructs which can be modified on the governmental level. The researchers offer to take particular universal actions to solve massive social problems such as poverty. From their perspective, addressing these issues may help reduce the general percentage of mental disorders (Allen et al., 2014). Such activities can improve the quality of people’s lives and minimize the socially-conditioned risks of developing mental illnesses.
Study Design
The study design includes the integration of the multilevel framework with three primary levels of evidence organizing. The framework consists of three levels: the life-course approach, community-level contexts, and country-level contests (Allen et al., 2014. Each of the analyzed spheres is vital for gaining a complete picture of the correlations between the social determinants and mental illnesses. As a part of the framework, the data collection is also divided into segments based on the age principle. Different developmental stages of people’s lives have various correlations with the chance of mental illness occurrences. The differentiative feature of the study design is the provision of the course of action after defining the problem in a particular period. Moreover, the researcher also analyzes the practical cases of different implementation strategies focused on solving a specific social situation. Such a comprehensive study design is chosen due to the complexity of the discovered issue (Allen et al., 2014). The aim of the study is universal, which requires the fundamental analysis of the many of society’s order.
Target Population
The analysis’s general population is divided into several controlled groups: prenatal, early and later childhood, working-age, family building, and older ages. Moreover, the researchers compare the representatives of different social classes (Allen et al., 2014). It is vital to emphasize the differences between the people living under other life conditions to show the correlations between mental illnesses and social determinants. As a result, the target population of the research is not specified. The representatives of varied ages, professions, and social groups were chosen. The information from the World Health Organization (WHO) is actively integrated within the scope of the research. This data is helpful from the perspective of analyzing such a vast population.
Data Collection Procedure
The data was collected through pioneering WHO’s reports on mental health. The researcher discovered the two primary issues within the scope of research. The first one is the social determinants related to mental disorders. The second is the actions on the government and country-level which can be undertaken to prevent the development of negative mental consequences. The WHO reports are valuable information sources regarding mental illness topics. Such data collection is not time-consuming, allowing for analyzing the vast periods and varied populations.
Data Collection Methods
The researchers chose the recent publications on the WHO’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse regarding the selected topic. Different articles and reports were analyzed by the group of researchers, indulging not only the primary authors of the paper but also the staff members of WHO’s Mental Department (Allen et al., 2014). The data was collected before the analysis based on the above target population-defined groups. For the examples, the researcher address differentiated works addressing the actions taken in particular countries to solve definite social issues such as poverty or alcoholism, which can negatively impact people’s mental state. The statistical data also is presented in the form of graphs. However, considering the scope of the study, the statistics seem insufficient.
Data Analysis
The life-course perspective was chosen to analyze the general scope of collected data. The reports were compared, identifying the fundamental principles connecting mental illnesses and social problems. The preferred approach can be called descriptive because the researcher allocated minimum statistical data analyzing primarily the core problem disregarding accurate numbers (Allen et al., 2014). It is also highlighted that the factor analysis was used for the data processing because the information was initially collected only based on the chosen categories. There are no specific tools mentioned within the scope of the research.
Summary of the Findings and Recommendations
In general, the research provides the fundamental analysis of the different aspects of the social function of human beings in relation to the development of mental illnesses. The primary hypothesis was supported based on the study’s results. The essential finding of the research is the correlations between the developmental stages, socially-conditioned cognitive problems, and the practical experiences of policy-making aimed to solve the issues (Allen et al., 2014). The recommendations for future studies are not provided by the authors.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article
One of the article’s significant strengths is the vast research scope. Thanks to the implementation of the WHO’s reports, the researchers had the opportunity to cover the broad topic by analyzing it from different angles. The combination of the data regarding mental illnesses, social problems, and the ways of their solutions are vital for the researched issue. Another strength of the article is the practical examples of how the negative impact of the social determinants on mental health can be minimized. The allocation of practical experience to solving theoretical problems is a significant step in understanding the issue more deeply. The paper has theoretical and practical importance because it allocates the results of the WHO’s reports and other experimental research results. Moreover, the collaboration with the WHO makes the work more reliable. The findings are approved by the international organization, which grants the status and high level of validity to the study.
Considering the weaknesses of the article, the lack of statistical data can be mentioned. The researchers provide some data allocations in graphics form. However, this information is not directly addressed in the analyses and findings. As a result, the gap between the theory and practice of the research can be noticed. It would be more rational to not simply state the facts in the data analysis but correlate the factual data with the statistics. Moreover, the statistics can be described as poor considering the vast scope of the research. Such a wide range of problems requires more detailed statistical support. For example, the annual information regarding mental illness among different populations could have been attached. Another weakness that can be highlighted is the language choice and some textual formations. Particular text fragments and ideas are repeated multiple times, which seems unnecessary. More factual information descriptions or statistics could have been implemented instead of repetitions.
Reference
Allen, J., Balfour, R., Bell., & Marmot, M. (2014). Social determinants of mental health. International Review of Psychiatry, 26(4), 391–407.