![]() ![]() Urban design research however lends itself in the most part to examining the effects of environmental exposures on sizeable populations. These diagnostic interviews may take up to a couple of hours to complete and involve multiple layers of questioning and testing for wide-ranging symptoms of mental health. The gold standard, diagnostic, definitive assessment of a person’s mental health status comes from rigorous psychiatric interview by trained clinicians, in most countries, a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist. While some ‘biological’ tests are available and used quite often in psychiatric research, most notably EEG brainwave monitoring, or salivary cortisol as proxy measures of stress levels, there are less useful for studying most mental health conditions. It is important to assess whether the information one needs already exists, or the effort and thought which goes into collecting fresh data is essential. Furthermore participant self-reporting of any of their own psychiatric diagnoses or psychiatric medications is used regularly instead of specific assessment tools. ![]() Increasingly big data, and data linked to hospital records or social media mean other indicators of mental health including diagnosis, demographic details, health history, prescription information, referrals, psychologist attendance, or police records can be used, and may be useful for location specific studies. Many outcomes in mental health research do not necessarily need tools for assessment. This is how the mental health impact of urban planning and design can be demonstrated and understood. ![]() However, it is possible – and desirable – to measure mental health outcomes in built environment research. This is due in part to psychiatry’s limited availability of objective biological tests and variable diagnostic guidelines, alongside intercultural differences in the mental health experience and complex social and psychological confounders. ![]() Measuring mental health has often been regarded as more difficult than measuring other types of health. ![]()
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