Research summary
Mental health disorders cause considerable suffering for many Canadians. They also result in lost productivity—not to mention driving up health care costs. To improve Canadians’ mental health and how we deliver related services, we need high-quality data. But too often, we lack data that have a Canadian context.
Dr. Kelly Anderson, Canada Research Chair in Public Mental Health Research, is studying public mental health to understand how mental health disorders are distributed across the population. Using health care system databases, she and her research team are trying to identify patterns in how people with mental health disorders use health services. Ultimately, their goal is to improve access to care for Canadians with serious mental illnesses.