TY - JOUR
T1 - Making space for embedded knowledge in Global Mental Health
T2 - A role for social work?
AU - Orr, David
AU - Jain, Sumeet
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - The ‘Global Mental Health’ (GMH) movement, an influential driver of transnational knowledge transfer in the field of mental health, advocates evidence-based strategies to ‘scale up’ services in low- and middle-income countries. As with debates on global and local frameworks for social work, there are concerns about marginalisation of knowledge that does not neatly fit the GMH discourse. This article analyses the professional and disciplinary structures that shape knowledge transfer in GMH and the implications for social work's engagement with the movement. Analysis of key documents and secondary literature identifies three key issues for GMH: its potentially negative impact on ‘local’ knowledge production; the challenges of accounting for culture and context; and the selective forms of evidence that are ‘allowed’ to contribute to GMH. Finding ways to encompass more ‘situated’ perspectives could reshape GMH in accord with its aspirations for participation by a wider range of stakeholders. Social work's values-based commitment to rights and empowerment, emphasis on embedded knowledge emerging from close links with practice, and theoretical engagement with social, cultural and political context, enable the profession to contribute significantly to this task. Such engagement would bring improvements in care for those suffering from mental health disorders, their families and communities.
AB - The ‘Global Mental Health’ (GMH) movement, an influential driver of transnational knowledge transfer in the field of mental health, advocates evidence-based strategies to ‘scale up’ services in low- and middle-income countries. As with debates on global and local frameworks for social work, there are concerns about marginalisation of knowledge that does not neatly fit the GMH discourse. This article analyses the professional and disciplinary structures that shape knowledge transfer in GMH and the implications for social work's engagement with the movement. Analysis of key documents and secondary literature identifies three key issues for GMH: its potentially negative impact on ‘local’ knowledge production; the challenges of accounting for culture and context; and the selective forms of evidence that are ‘allowed’ to contribute to GMH. Finding ways to encompass more ‘situated’ perspectives could reshape GMH in accord with its aspirations for participation by a wider range of stakeholders. Social work's values-based commitment to rights and empowerment, emphasis on embedded knowledge emerging from close links with practice, and theoretical engagement with social, cultural and political context, enable the profession to contribute significantly to this task. Such engagement would bring improvements in care for those suffering from mental health disorders, their families and communities.
KW - Global Mental Health
KW - knowledge transfer
KW - international social work
KW - indigenisation
KW - global social work
U2 - 10.1080/13691457.2014.948810
DO - 10.1080/13691457.2014.948810
M3 - Article
SN - 1369-1457
VL - 18
SP - 569
EP - 582
JO - European Journal of Social Work
JF - European Journal of Social Work
IS - 4
ER -