Epidemiology: Open Access
Open Access

Abstract

Mental health is more than the absence of mental illness or mental disorders. It constitutes a form of complete well-being and favors our capacity to enjoy life and to face the challenges we confront. Quality of life and well-being are important indicators of mental health, so it is important to know the parameters affecting them, in order to develop programs of mental health promotion. After more than 25 years of research on quality of life and well-being of different populations: general population, economically disadvantaged populations, people with mental disorders and their families, we will present the results of research on these populations. We will also present the main parameters related or that predict the quality of life and well-being through important research identified by a literature review.

Biography

Jean Caron studies the mental health of populations, the assessment of mental health services and the validation of psychometric instruments. He joined the Psychosocial Research Division of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute in 1998 and became an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University. He currently leads the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Team in Social and Psychiatric Epidemiology. He is also an associate researcher at the Institut de Santé Publique of the Université de Montréal and the Instituto de Saude Colletiva of the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil. His recent studies have identified determinants of psychological distress quality of life and well-being among different populations. Jean Caron’s research has received national and international recognition. He was a visiting professor in the Department of Social Psychology at the University of Seville, in Spain. He is a consultant in social and psychiatric epidemiology to the Public Health Agency of Canada, Statistics Canada, the Quebec Department of Public Health, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health.