Improving the wellbeing of the Mongolian population

Mongolia is exploring a range of initiatives to improve its mental health services thanks to expert support from Professor Fiona Nolan, from our School of Health and Human Sciences.

Professor Nolan’s recent trip to Mongolia is the sixth visit she has made to the country to discuss opportunities to progress their mental health strategy, particularly in relation to developing community services and training nursing and medical staff in current care practices.

The project has recently been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council’s Impact Acceleration Account and Professor Nolan’s trip involved setting up workshops with key clinicians, government officials and non-government organisations (NGOs).

Professor Nolan, who is the University’s Florence Nightingale Foundation Chair in Clinical Mental Health Nursing Practice Research, said: “This trip was a great opportunity to build on the work of previous visits and bring people together from a range of organisations and perspectives explore potential work together to improve the health and wellbeing of the Mongolian population.”

She added: “It was a very successful trip as there is an excitement and willingness to improve the situation in Mongolia and I am very grateful for the Impact Acceleration Account, as without this funding the trip would not have been possible. It has allowed me to build on valuable relationships established over the past two years and continue the momentum and trust gained from this work.”

During her recent visit the national director of mental health services agreed to work with Professor Nolan to undertake a national population survey to explore attitudes and stigma in relation to mental health in Mongolia.

Her IAA-funded work, which has been fully supported by the British Embassy in Mongolia, also involves a project to evaluate the experiences of staff and patients in working and receiving treatment in a psychiatric hospital. The project model can be replicated elsewhere to allow cross-country comparisons, and Professor Nolan is liaising with colleagues in Australia, Qatar, New Zealand and Finland who have expressed interest in conducting it in their settings.

Professor Nolan returns to Mongolia in September where she will be delivering a keynote speech at the Mongolian International Nursing Conference, and running a further workshop as part of the IAA-funded project. She will also host seminars and participate in training at the Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences, where she is a Visiting Professor of Mental Health.