Objective:

To analyse the role of Mexico's mental health system governance in the development of mental health policies and programmes, from the perspective of its own actors.

Methods:

A map was developed for identifying the actors in Mexico's mental health system. A guide was designed for in-depth interviews, which were recorded and arranged in categories for their analysis. The Atlas-ti v.7 software was used for the organisation of qualitative data and Policy Maker v.4 was used to determine the position and influence of actors within the health system.

Results:

The actors were identified according to their level of influence in mental health policies: high, medium and low. Actors with a high level of influence participate in national policies, actors with medium influence are involved in regional or local policies and the participation of actors with a low level of influence is considered marginal.

Conclusions:

This study facilitated understanding of governance in mental health. The level of influence of the actors directly affects the scope of governance indicators. Relevant data were obtained to improve policies in mental health care.

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