Cornwall Public Health

Understanding community mental health to strengthen public health planning

Approach: Large-scale quantitative research programme

Cornwall Council’s Public Health Team commissioned PFA Research to understand how people across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly look after their mental wellbeing, the pressures they face, and whether local support meets their needs. This was a complex, sensitive brief requiring insight that was representative, inclusive, ethically gathered and capable of informing future strategy.

The challenge

Public Health, Cornwall Council needed reliable insight from a broad cross‑section of residents, including both well‑served and underserved communities whose needs may be less visible. Ensuring people could participate safely and comfortably was essential given the nature of the topic.

The approach

PFA Research delivered a large-scale, inclusive, ethical, and robust survey to meet these needs. The approach followed the Market Research Society’s Code of Conduct throughout, ensuring participant wellbeing, confidentiality, and data integrity. Participation was voluntary, no questions were mandatory, and respondents could withdraw at any time – even after completing the survey.

The survey was sensitively worded and accessible across both interviewer‑led and self‑completed formats. PFA used a mixed‑mode methodology combining telephone interviews, online self‑completion, panel recruitment and face‑to‑face outreach. This ensured harder‑to‑reach groups – including younger men, digitally excluded individuals and people with health conditions or vulnerabilities – were represented alongside those traditionally more likely to take part.

This inclusivity was especially important given the interconnected nature of mental wellbeing, social contact, physical health and wider life pressures. A broad, balanced sample allowed the research to capture these complexities without over‑ or under‑representing any particular group.

The final dataset was weighted by Integrated Care Area, age and gender (using ONS benchmarks) to reflect the population of Cornwall accurately. Weighting controls and checks ensured no individual response had undue influence, resulting in a balanced and statistically robust sample fully suitable for strategic decision-making.

Why the approach worked

PFA’s approach delivered value in several ways:

• Ability to surface underserved groups
  The combination of recruitment methods and population weighting ensured insights reflected Cornwall’s diverse communities, not just those easiest to reach. This was crucial for illuminating experiences across different ages, health circumstances, identities, employment situations and living conditions – including groups who may face pressure but engage less with formal support.
• Ethical, participant‑centred design
  The careful handling of a sensitive topic allowed people to share openly without pressure. The voluntary nature of participation, the option to skip any question, and strict adherence to ethical standards created a safe environment for contribution.
• Rich contextual insight
  The design allowed PFA to explore not just whether people faced challenges, but how mental health, wellbeing behaviours, confidence, social contact and life circumstances interact. This supported a more nuanced understanding of what influences wellbeing across the population.

Overall, the research offered Public Health, Cornwall Council a clear, human understanding of local mental wellbeing, grounded in representative, ethically collected evidence.

Impact and outcome

The project equipped the Public health Team with a robust evidence base to inform future public health planning and engagement strategies. By highlighting how different groups experience wellbeing, where pressures accumulate, and where support may not reach those who need it, the research enables more targeted, effective interventions. It also offers a balanced view of strengths and unmet needs across the region, helping identify not only where challenges exist, but also where protective factors and positive behaviours can be reinforced.

Featured image photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash