Copyright © eContent Management Pty Ltd. Health Sociology Review (2014) 23(3): 166–177. 166 Volume 23, Issue 3, December 2014 H S R H S R T hese last few years, increasing publications about the predominance of poor mental health and its high cost associated with increas- ing health care and social services use, as well as loss in economic productivity, led to vari- ous international recommendations in order to prevent mental disorders and to promote indi- vidual well-being (World Health Organization, 2001, 2006). In that matter, various World Health Organisation (WHO) reports, aimed at health policy planners and practitioners, recommend developing, disseminating and implementing prevention and promotion programs. The pub- lic health benefits and cost-effectiveness of these programs must be confirmed by ‘the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence’ found in the international scientific review of literature (World Health Organization, 2004, 2005). The WHO underlines the importance of relying on systematic and experimental research (such as randomized controlled trials) to evalu- ate the impact of programs on diminishing risk and on promoting protective biopsychosocial evidence-based factors. The WHO also recom- mends to ‘enhance their dissemination and adoption worldwide in order to facilitate their large-scale imple- mentation’ (World Health Organization, 2004, p. 53).The dissemination of evidence-based pre- vention and promotion programs through the proliferation of international scientific journals 1 and articles, guidelines and recommendations made by various private and public health orga- nizations, also came along with the considerable development of new scientific disciplines such as genetics, neuroscience and behavioral medicine. These new scientific disciplines have led to new conceptions of mental and behavioral function- ing and to new types of interventions (World Health Organisation, 2013). Over the years, these global health concep- tions and strategies have substantially influ- enced the development of mental health policies in a number of countries. Various mental health guidelines and recommenda- tions have been published in the United States, Canada and Australia to ‘assist practitioners as they plan, implement and evaluate mental health The public health dogma of evidence-based mental disorders prevention and mental health promotion: French professionals’ beliefs in regard to parenting programs CÉCILE DELAWARDE*, THOMAS SAÏAS +,! AND XAVIER BRIFFAULT* *CERMES3 – CNRS UMR 8211, EHESS, INSERM U988, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris- Cité, Paris, France; + Département de psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; ! Laboratoire de Psychopathologie et Processus de Santé, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris-Cité, Paris, France Abstract: In the last few years, various international public health organizations such as the World Health Organization or the European Commission have recommended the worldwide dissemination of evidence-based mental health prevention programs. is public health ideal, relying on new scientific disciplines, is at the origin of multiple con- troversies in a number of countries. is article contributes to bring a reflection on the ways political experts, researchers and practitioners have integrated these new preventive strategies. More precisely, the objective is to present and to discuss the results of a qualitative study on French professionals’ representations and theoretical perspectives with regards to evidence- based parenting programs. Results are based on ethnographical inquiries in French public health institutions and on 12 semi-structured interviews with professionals. e results demonstrate three ways to conceive parenting support, themselves attached to distinct anthropological, socio-political and interventional models. Keywords: public health policies, mental health prevention, evidence-based, parenting support, representations, sociology 1 For example, creation of Evidence-Based Mental Health – BMJ journal.