Gargie's mixed methods PhD project brings together her interests in quantitative and qualitative social research. The project uses both data analysis that captures national and regional level evidence, and social interviews that learn from people’s personal experiences and insights of mental health problems in contemporary multicultural Britain.

The quantitative phase looks at trends in prevalence and treatment access for common mental disorders in people from ethnic minority backgrounds in England between 1993-2014. This uses data from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys, the longest running nationally representative household survey series for mental health and wellbeing in the UK.

The qualitative phase seeks to interview participants from ethnic minority backgrounds who have agreed to share their experiences and perceptions of mental health problems and care, to answer questions that cannot be analysed from existing data.

Gargie is also looking to learn from support and advocacy organisations working with people facing challenges with accessing mental health services, to understand factors driving the persisting inequalities faced by people from ethnic minority backgrounds. If you would like to learn more or are interested in participating, please find more information linked here.

This PhD project is a collaborative studentship, n partnership NatCen, and supported by the Economic and Social Research Council through the London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership.