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An action research project undertaken by the Menzies School of Health Research. The project involves mental health professionals and the Indigenous people living in remote areas in the Northern Territory (NT) who are suffering from a mental illness. The project incorporates a number of smaller projects to raise awareness and understanding of the factors affecting the mental health of Indigenous Australians in remote areas of the NT and the strategies required to prevent future relapses.
In partnership with Aboriginal mental health workers, this project has produced a number of multimedia resources. The National Health and Medical Research Council, Alcohol Education Rehabilitation Foundation, Northern Territory Department of Health and Community Services and the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health (now the Lowitja Institute) have all provided funding for the project. Other projects running include:
Tricia Nagel
Project Manager
Ph: (08) 8922 7944
Email: tricia.nagel@menzies.edu.au
This study was designed to provide important new information about relapse prevention in Indigenous* people with chronic mental illness. A key cause of the burden of disease of mental illness is the high frequency of relapse of common mental disorders. National and international best practice guidelines recommend a range of biological and psychological strategies to prevent recurrence of mental illness. There is good evidence that many of these relapse prevention strategies improve outcomes, but there has been a paucity of clinical research into Indigenous-specific interventions.
The study was conducted in two remote Indigenous communities in the Top End of the Northern Territory (NT). It targeted Indigenous clients, carers, and Aboriginal Mental Health Workers (AMHWs) and sought to answer two questions as follows: 'can a culturally appropriate brief intervention be developed which incorporates local Indigenous perspectives of mental health and mental illness?' and 'does the brief intervention improve client mental health outcomes compared with treatment as usual'?
Assessment, psychoeducation, and care-planning resources were developed with local AMHWs in the two communities. These were gathered into a focused brief intervention. The study then implemented a randomised trial of the intervention compared with 'treatment as usual'. Clients were randomised to an 'early treatment' group, which received the intervention at baseline, and a 'late treatment' group, which received the intervention six months later. Client outcomes were assessed six monthly for eighteen months.
Participants showed significant reductions in emotional distress and substance use and significant improvements in self-management. The results confirm that promotion of self-management through psychoeducation and goal-setting is an effective relapse prevention strategy. The study contributes important new information about cross-cultural perspectives of mental health, and provides a strategy to deliver treatment in the remote setting that is brief and effective.
* For the purpose of this thesis 'Indigenous' refers to Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and acknowledges their rich diversity of culture.
Abstract reproduced with kind permission of the author.
This resource package includes culturally appropriate information on mental health and mental illness for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. A range of mental health promotion resources make up this resource package, including:
This resource package was produced by the Australian Integrated Mental Health Initiative (AIMHI). This initiative was a five year project which looked at mental health in remote communities to find new ways to deliver services.
Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet abstract
This study was designed to provide important new information about relapse prevention in Indigenous* people with chronic mental illness. A key cause of the burden of disease of mental illness is the high frequency of relapse of common mental disorders. National and international best practice guidelines recommend a range of biological and psychological strategies to prevent recurrence of mental illness. There is good evidence that many of these relapse prevention strategies improve outcomes, but there has been a paucity of clinical research into Indigenous-specific interventions.
The study was conducted in two remote Indigenous communities in the Top End of the Northern Territory (NT). It targeted Indigenous clients, carers, and Aboriginal Mental Health Workers (AMHWs) and sought to answer two questions as follows: 'can a culturally appropriate brief intervention be developed which incorporates local Indigenous perspectives of mental health and mental illness?' and 'does the brief intervention improve client mental health outcomes compared with treatment as usual'?
Assessment, psychoeducation, and care-planning resources were developed with local AMHWs in the two communities. These were gathered into a focused brief intervention. The study then implemented a randomised trial of the intervention compared with 'treatment as usual'. Clients were randomised to an 'early treatment' group, which received the intervention at baseline, and a 'late treatment' group, which received the intervention six months later. Client outcomes were assessed six monthly for eighteen months.
Participants showed significant reductions in emotional distress and substance use and significant improvements in self-management. The results confirm that promotion of self-management through psychoeducation and goal-setting is an effective relapse prevention strategy. The study contributes important new information about cross-cultural perspectives of mental health, and provides a strategy to deliver treatment in the remote setting that is brief and effective.
* For the purpose of this thesis 'Indigenous' refers to Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and acknowledges their rich diversity of culture.
Abstract reproduced with kind permission of the author.
