Innovation: Mood Tour

Germany

AAI Domains:

• Independent, healthy and secure living (physical exercise, mental well-being)

• Participation in society (voluntary activities, social connectedness)

Depression is one of the leading causes of illness around the globe and the prevalence is increasing for people of all ages around the world. The World Health Organisation estimates that approximately 350 million people experience depression on any given day and it is the leading cause of disability in terms of the total number of years lost to the condition.

There is still social stigma when it comes to acknowledging how common depression is even though it is a condition that can be effectively treated. Raising awareness of how many people are affected by depression and how it can be successfully treated are important aims in many countries across Europe and there is a role for social innovation in this area.

In Germany it is estimated that approximately 4 million people are currently experiencing depression and that around 10 million adults have experienced the condition at some point in their lives before they reach the age of 65 years. The scale of depression in Germany is broadly typical of other wealthy European states and gives an indication of how widespread it is although there are still some reservations about acknowledging the condition for individuals and wider society.

Mood Tour started in Bremen in 2012 to raise awareness about depression and encourage people affected by it to seek treatment with a national cycling tour covering some 4,500 kilometres around Germany. This involved 32 participants, some directly affected by depression and others not, riding around 50–80 kilometres per day in teams of three or four people.

Several teams rode tandems and the Mood Tour organisers arranged events at each place that the ‘race’ went through to raise awareness of depression and how it can be treated. In the first edition of the Tour there were 31 days of action organised in localities across Germany to encourage local people to join the tour for the day so that the peloton could increase in size to several hundred people.

One of the most effective ways to treat depression is to encourage physical activity, such as cycling, especially as part of a group. The Tour was financially supported by a range of charitable foundations, including the Foundation for the Promotion of Health and the German Federal Pensions Insurance, that enabled greater publicity for free counselling support and self-help groups. As the Tour crossed Germany it attracted widespread attention in the media which helped to break down barriers that prevented people seeking treatment for depression. The Tour was repeated in 2013 and 2015.

In relation to active ageing, the Mood Tour promotes physical activity for participants who complete the whole of the event and the thousands of people who join the peloton for a day. The aim of the Tour is to raise awareness of depression and increase access to health services that can effectively treat the condition. Changing public views of depression and common mental disorders is also likely to contribute to greater mental well-being among the wider population and contribute to active ageing across the life course.

Mood Tour website