ArticlePLOS mental health2025
Re-imagining approaches for mental health and substance use health workforce regulation in Canada: Making room for dynamic tensions.
Article in PLOS mental health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Policy options for a pan-Canadian mental health and substance use health workforce strategy.Healthcare management forum · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Regulation of the mental health and substance use health (MHSUH) workforce affects not only quality but also the availability and accessibility of services. This study explores the perspectives of subject matter experts on how flexible, modern regulatory reforms in the MHSUH workforce can promote more equitable access to services and the impact of regulation on service safety, quality, accessibility, and the workforce. Between January and March 2023, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 subject matter experts from diverse MHSUH provider groups and organizations. Participants shared insights on regulation, quality assurance, and relevant policies that shape equitable access to MHSUH services and workforce dynamics. The data were analyzed thematically, and findings were validated by the project's diverse advisory committee. The analysis generated four themes that underscore the need to re-imagine regulatory approaches in a way that makes room for the dynamic tension between standardization and protection of the public on the one hand, and flexibility and respect for the value of lived expertise on the other. These themes include: (1) the impact of policy exclusion, criminalization, and stigma of MHSUH; (2) gaps in regulation limit access and the protection of the public; (3) the dynamic tension between standardization and flexibility in regulatory approaches; and (4) policies to support the integration of lived experience into the MHSUH and broader health workforce are limited. In conclusion, re-imagined regulatory approaches are essential for ensuring equitable access to MHSUH services and addressing significant gaps in workforce planning. An adapted right-touch regulation approach, which aligns regulatory interventions with the level of risk, may help guide future reforms for the MHSUH workforce in Canada. This approach should balance the need to appropriately manage risks of harm while avoiding unnecessary barriers to practice across the spectrum of MHSUH providers.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.