Rethink Politics Evaluation

The project addresses democratic disengagement within the mental health community. Recent legislative changes have been made to encourage and enable more people affected by mental health to register and vote in the UK, but with less emphasis and understanding on how to increase involvement.

The research strand of this work involves a survey (Your Shout) in England and Northern Ireland to establish levels of democratic engagement within the mental health community and to identify the barriers faced and motivations affecting participation. Your Shout is carried out before and after a national series of engagement initiatives implemented by Rethink’s campaigns team to encourage involvement. The survey is followed up by in-depth interviews with individual survey respondents. The study will explore key factors influencing democratic engagement and provide recommendation on how these can be addressed.

Project researchers
Sarah Ajayi

Partner organisations
Mental Health Foundation
Mind
MDF – The Bipolar Organisation
Young Minds

Links
Campaign for Change: Rethink Politics Webpage
The Electoral Comission website: Partnership Grants Awards
Rethink Politics Report

Funded by
The Electoral Commission