Mental health reform in the Russian Federation: an integrated approach to achieve social inclusion and recovery.

Objective: To facilitate mental health reform in one Russian oblast (region) using systematic approaches to policy design and implementation.

Methods: The authors undertook a three-year action-research programme across three pilot sites, comprising a multifaceted set of interventions combining situation appraisal to inform planning, sustained policy dialogue at federal and regional levels to catalyse change, introduction of multidisciplinary and intersectoral-working at all levels, skills-based training for professionals, and support for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to develop new care models.

Findings: Training programmes developed in this process have been adopted into routine curricula with measurable changes in staff skills.