Small Area Mental Health Index (SAMHI)

Summary

The SAMHI is a composite annual measure of population mental health for each Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) in England. The SAMHI combines data on mental health from multiple sources (NHS-Mental health related hospital attendances, Prescribing data – Antidepressants, QOF - depression, and DWP - claimants of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for mental health reasons and learning difficulties) into a single index.

Technical description

Each indicator was individually standardised by rescaling data to have a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1 (z-scores). Maximum likelihood factor analysis is used as a method for combining indicators (by finding appropriate weights) into a single score based on the inter-correlations between all the indicators.

NOTE: The SAMHI index has been updated to include the years 2020, 2021, and 2022. The IBESA indicator has been replaced by the DLA/PIP indicator, as IBESA measures were discontinued after 2019.

9 files

SAMHI index 2022 [Version 5.00] - Map
livuni.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=704567a5074448faa8b08541c9706599
SAMHI index [Version 5.00] - Indicator specification (189.94 kB)
Jan 2025 The SAMHI index has been updated to include the years 2020, 2021, and 2022. The IBESA indicator has been replaced by the DLA/PIP indicator, as IBESA measures were discontinued after 2019.
SAMHI index [Version 5.00] - CSV file (8.04 MB)
SAMHI index [Version 5.00] - CSV file (Long format) (40.25 MB)
SAMHI index [Version 4.00] - Zip file (14.88 MB)
SAMHI index [Version 3.01] - Zip file (14.94 MB)
Oct 2021 - Missing values of ‘samhi_index’ and ‘samhi_dec’ variables for 51 LSOAs have been updated for the years 2011,2012 and 2013.
SAMHI index [Version 3.00] - Zip file (14.91 MB)
Sept 2021 - SAMHI index and indicators have been updated for 2019.
SAMHI index [Version 2.00] - Zip file (13.44 MB)
Dec 2020 - Change of standardization method: The ranking method used for the ver1.0 SAMHI index was replaced by the z-score method for improving the index quality.
SAMHI index [Version 1.00] - Zip file (4.41 MB)
Jan 2020 - First release