Ana Petek

Interdisciplinary research framework for multisectoral mental health policy development

Abstract This paper proposes an interdisciplinary research framework for developing mental health policy in countries where a multisectoral approach to population mental health is not yet on the policy agenda. The proposed mental health policy research framework contains two structural elements: research on the policy content and policy process dimensions. The content dimension defines mental health policy as being a multisectoral policy encompassing positive mental health for all, the prevention and treatment of mental disorders, and the social and human rights consequences of poor mental health. The process dimension is based on the cyclical model of policy processes as described by Kingdon’s theory of agenda-setting and Rochefort’s analysis of the factors which affect mental health policy-making. The framework presents an innovative approach to researching mental health policy, bringing a more interdisciplinary focus and an explicit emphasis on policy-making.

Features of Croatian Public Policies

This chapter belongs to cross-sectoral studies of public policies, with Croatia as a case example. Being one of the first works of this kind focused on Croatia, the purpose of the chapter is exploratory—to give initial description of main similarities and differences between Croatian public policies. The chapter develops a qualitative analysis of policy studies of different Croatian sectors to capture some general characteristics of policy-making. As a theoretical framework, taxonomy of European public policies, concepts of policy accounts and policy design are used. A sample of policies belonging to different policy areas present in European countries was analyzed by principles of qualitative content analysis. The chapter describes overall major features of Croatian public policies followed by comparative cross-sectoral analysis.