Academic literature on the topic 'Mental health services Victoria Melbourne Evaluation'

ABSTRACTBackground: This paper describes the evaluation of the Memory Lane Café service in Victoria, Australia. The Alzheimer's Australia Vic Memory Lane Café model aims to provide a social and educational service to people living with dementia and their carers, family members or friends. Dementia is a serious health issue in Australia, with prevalence estimated at 6.5% of people over 65 years of age. Living with dementia has significant social and psychological ramifications, often negatively affecting quality of life. Social support groups can improve quality of life for people living with dementia.Methods: The evaluation included focus groups and surveys of people with dementia and their carers, staff consultation, service provider interviews, and researcher observation. The Melbourne Health Mental Health Human Research Ethics Committee approved the project. Participants included people with dementia (aged 60 to 93 years, previously enrolled in the Alzheimer's Australia Vic's six-week Living With Memory Loss Program), their carers, friends and/or family members, staff working in the Cafés, and service providers with links to the Cafés.Results: This evaluation found that Memory Lane Cafés promote social inclusion, prevent isolation, and improve the social and emotional well-being of attendees. However, Cafés did not meet the needs of all potential attendees.Conclusions: The evaluation recommended that existing Café services be continued and possibilities for extending the Cafés be explored. Based on evaluation outcomes, the Department of Health Victoria is funding four additional pilot programs in café style support services.

ABSTRACTBackground: In the next decades of the twenty-first century, the global aging of populations will challenge every nation's ability to provide leadership by qualified health professionals to reshape and improve health care delivery systems. The challenge for educators is to design and deliver courses that will give students the knowledge and skills they need to fill that leadership role confidently in dementia care services. This paper explores the ways in which a curriculum can develop graduates who are ready to become leaders in shaping their industry.Method: The Master of Health Science – Aged Services (MHSAS) program at Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia is applied as a case study to describe the process by which the concept of leadership is applied as the key driver in curriculum development, teaching practices and learning outcomes.Results: Evaluation instruments employed in a variety of purposes including teaching, curriculum planning and unit appraisal are discussed. Challenges for the future are proposed including the need for postgraduate programs in dementia to seek stronger national and international benchmarks and associations with other educational institutions to promote leadership and a vision of what is possible and desirable in dementia care provision.Conclusions: In the twenty-first century, effective service provision in the aged health care sector will require postgraduate curricula that equip students for dementia care leadership. The MHSAS program provides an established template for such curricula.

In April 1995 the Royal Children's Hospital Mental Health Service in Melbourne piloted the use of videoconferencing in providing access for rural service providers and their clients to specialist child and adolescent psychiatric input. What began as a pilot project has in two years become integrated into the service-delivery system for rural Victoria. The experience of the service in piloting and integrating the use of videoconferencing to rural Victoria has been an important development for child and adolescent mental health services in Australia.

In 1995, the Royal Children's Hospital Mental Health Service in Melbourne developed the first telepsychiatry programme in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in Australia. A survey of 25 CAMHS clinicians in five rural regions who had used videoconferencing showed that 64% had used the technology for more than 18 months, and 20% had used it for 7–12 months. Also, 60% had used the technology on over 30 occasions, and 24% had used it on 20–29 occasions. Respondents clearly recognized its benefits in terms of their increased knowledge and skills (96%), strengthening of relationships with colleagues (92%) and decreased sense of isolation (92%). To build on the success of telepsychiatry there are a number of challenges that health service managers will need to address. Telepsychiatry works most effectively as a tool to complement face-to-face contact. It cannot be promoted as the total solution to the issue of isolation from mainstream services.

The Families First Pilot Program in the then Outer East metropolitan region of Melbourne began in mid-1991 as an intensive family preservation and reunification service for children on the verge of state care. The service offered was brief (4-6 week), intensive (up to 20 hours per week), home-based and flexible (24 hour a day, 7 day a week availability) and all members of the household or family were the focus of service even though the goals were clearly grounded in the protection of the child. This paper begins with some of the apprehension expressed both in the field and in Children Australia in 1993, and reports upon the now completed evaluation of the pilot, which covered the first 18 months of operation. The evaluation examined implementation and program development issues and considered the client population of the service against comparative data about those children at risk who were not included. The paper concludes that there is room for Families First in the Victorian system of protective and family services and points to several developmental issues.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand and inform the development and implementation of a newly established Discovery College (a youth-focused Recovery College). It also aims to contribute to a broader understanding of the benefits and barriers to establishing Recovery Colleges. Design/methodology/approach The overall study took a mixed-methods approach to the evaluation of Discovery College, including a qualitative process evaluation component as well as a mixed-methods outcomes evaluation. This paper reports on the findings of the process evaluation, which undertook key informant interviews with a range of stakeholders in the implementation process. Findings A total of 16 themes emerged from the qualitative data, which were then clustered into four main areas: establishing Discovery College, organisational context, nature of Discovery College and service transformation. Implementation was reported as both feasible and effective. Initial tension between fidelity to the model and a pragmatic approach to action was negotiated during implementation and through an ability of staff to tolerate uncertainty, enabled by the efforts and support of senior service management and college staff. Originality/value Recovery Colleges co-designed and implemented in youth mental health services are a recent development in the field of mental health care and very little has previously been published regarding the feasibility, effectiveness and acceptability of youth-focused Recovery Colleges. This paper is one of the first to assess the barriers and enablers to the implementation of Discovery College within a clinical youth mental health service.

BackgroundProviding specialised services to individuals experiencing first-episode psychosis (FEP) is a relatively new endeavour.AimsTo overview developing services for newly diagnosed cases of FEP and the context in which they develop.MethodThis paper describes five model multi-element FEP programmes, outlines recent evaluation studies of FEP services, discusses current evidence gaps relating to the evaluation of complex interventions and specific interventions for FEP and illustrates attempts to examine aspects of clinical work practised at the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre (EPPIC) in Melbourne, Australia.ResultsConsiderable progress has been made in terms of influencing practice in the assessment and treatment of early psychosis.ConclusionsThere is need for quality clinical and research efforts to inform and accelerate progress in this burgeoning field.

This study aimed to describe regional variations in service use and distance travelled to post-discharge health services in the first three years following hospital discharge for people with transport-related orthopaedic, brain, and spinal cord injuries. Using linked data from the Victorian State Trauma Registry (VSTR) and Transport Accident Commission (TAC), we identified 1597 people who had sustained transport-related orthopaedic, brain, or spinal cord injuries between 2006 and 2016 that met the study inclusion criteria. The adjusted odds of GP service use for regional participants were 76% higher than for metropolitan participants in the orthopaedic and traumatic brain injury (TBI) groups. People with spinal cord injury (SCI) living in regional areas had 72% lower adjusted odds of accessing mental health, 76% lower adjusted odds of accessing OT services, and 82% lower adjusted odds of accessing physical therapies compared with people living in major cities. People with a TBI living in regional areas on average travelled significantly further to access all post-discharge health services compared with people with TBI in major cities. For visits to medical services, the median trip distance for regional participants was 76.61 km (95%CI: 16.01–132.21) for orthopaedic injuries, 104.05 km (95% CI: 51.55–182.78) for TBI, and 68.70 km (95%CI: 8.34–139.84) for SCI. Disparities in service use and distance travelled to health services exist between metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria following serious injury.

IntroductionAlmost 78 000 women gave birth in the state of Victoria, Australia, in 2019. While most births occurred in metropolitan Melbourne and large regional centres, a significant proportion of women birthed in rural services. In late 2016, to support clinicians to recognise and respond to clinical deterioration, the Victorian government mandated provision of an emergency training programme, called Maternity and Newborn Emergencies (MANE), to rural and regional maternity services across the state. This paper describes the evaluation of MANE.Design and settingA quasi-experimental study design was used; the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model provided the framework.ParticipantsParticipants came from the 17 rural and regional Victorian maternity services who received MANE in 2018 and/or 2019.Outcome measuresBaseline data were collected from MANE attendees before MANE delivery, and at four time points up to 12 months post-delivery. Clinicians’ knowledge of the MANE learning objectives, and confidence ratings regarding the emergencies covered in MANE were evaluated. The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) assessed safety climate pre-MANE and 6 months post-MANE among all maternity providers at the sites.ResultsImmediately post-MANE, most attendees reported increased confidence to escalate clinical concerns (n=251/259). Knowledge in the non-technical and practical aspects of the programme increased. Management of perinatal emergencies was viewed as equally stressful pre-MANE and post-MANE, but confidence to manage these emergencies increased post-delivery. Pre-MANE SAQ scores showed consistently strong and poor performing services. Six months post-MANE, some services showed improvements in SAQ scores indicative of improved safety climate.ConclusionMANE delivery resulted in both short-term and sustained improvements in knowledge of, and confidence in, maternity emergencies. Further investigation of the SAQ across Victoria may facilitate identification of services with a poor safety climate who could benefit from frequent targeted interventions (such as the MANE programme) at these sites.

IntroductionThe ambulance clinical triage-for acute stroke treatment (ACT-FAST) algorithm is a severity based 3-step paramedic triage tool for pre-hospital recognition of large vessel occlusion (LVO), designed to improve specificity and paramedic assessment reliability compared to existing triage scales. ACT-FAST sequentially assesses 1. Unilateral arm fall to stretcher <10 s; 2a. Severe language disturbance (right arm weak), or 2b. Severe gaze deviation/hemi-neglect assessed by shoulder tap (left arm weak); 3. Clinical eligibility questions. We present the results of the ongoing Ambulance Victoria paramedic validation study.MethodsAmbulance Victoria paramedics assessed ACT-FAST in all suspected stroke patients pre-hospital in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia, and in the Royal Melbourne Hospital Emergency Department since July 2017. Algorithm results were validated against a comparator of ICA/M1 occlusion on CT-angiography with NIHSS ≥6 (Class 1 indications for endovascular thrombectomy).ResultsData were available from n=119 assessments (ED n=68, pre-hospital n=51). Patient diagnoses were LVO n=20 (15.6%), non-LVO infarcts n=45 (38.5%), ICH n=10 (8.3%) and no stroke on imaging n=44 (37.6%). ACT-FAST showed 85% sensitivity, 88.9% specificity, 60.7% (72% excluding ICH) positive predictive value and 96.7% negative predictive value for LVO. Of 10 false-positives, 4 received thrombectomy for non-Class 1 indications (basilar/M2 occlusions/cervical dissection), 3 were ICH, and 1 was tumour. Three false-negatives were LVO with milder syndromes.DiscussionThe ongoing ACT-FAST algorithm validation study shows high accuracy for clinical recognition of LVO. The streamlined algorithmic approach with just two examination items provides a more practical option for implementation in large emergency service networks. Accurate pre-hospital recognition of LVO will allow bypass to endovascular centres and early activation of neuro-intervention services to expedite endovascular thrombectomy.

Thesis (DPsych (Health Psychology)) - Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, 2007.
Submitted as a requirement for the degree of Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology, Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology - 2007. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-210).

Chronic diseases have increased dramatically in Australia and around the world over the past decade, causing pain, suffering, disability, psychosocial problems, early mortality and economic and public health crisis. However, many chronic diseases and conditions could be prevented with better evidence based and community based health promotion strategies. Guided by a philosophy of idealism, the aim of this thesis was to develop a community centred health promotion strategy to assist the improvement of health and the prevention of chronic disease in an Australian context. More specifically, the research was concerned with exploring the potentiality of statistical or epidemiological evidence and community collaboration as pathways to chronic disease prevention and improvement of health at an individual, community and system level. The research utilised a praxis paradigm and action research design over three stages. Stage One included in depth quantitative analysis of health and epidemiological data and addressed the question: What is the current evidence/knowledge about health status, determinants and inequalities in Victorian communities and the broader Victorian and Australian context? Stage Two involved qualitative participatory action research methods to engage a small group of community members from the Brimbank region of Melbourne (Victoria, Australia) in the community governance of health promotion and disease prevention. The questions addressed were: What are the benefits of community based health promotion and prevention? What ideas for health promotion action does the community have to offer? Stage Three involved a minor evaluation of the strategy as a whole and addressed the question: In what ways, can health evidence and community involvement in health promotion contribute to better health outcomes? Stage One identified various determinants that impact on health status and result in inequalities. Stage Two revealed six major benefits for community based health promotion and prevention and generated a number of useful ideas for health promotion action in the community. Stage Three showed positive evaluations by the participants and identified numerous indicators of success of the health promotion strategy as a whole.

Most of the time, people of all different ages and with all sorts of mental illnesses go to the same place to see a doctor, get medicines, or participate in counseling. That is, they go to mental health clinics or the office of a mental health professional that provides treatments for a number of different illnesses. Most young people who have psychosis get their medical care and treatment in a hospital, clinic, or doctor’s office. In these places, the doctors and other mental health professionals may have taken special classes about how to help young people with psychosis, but that may not be their only focus. They may see people with other illnesses too. However, in some places around the world, there are special clinics that are for people in the early stages of psychosis. These types of specialized programs have been developed recently, since the 1990s. These programs have a number of different types of mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, counselors, and others. In some programs, mental health professionals and doctors in training may rotate through the clinic spending several months at a time training in the clinic. Some programs, like the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre (EPPIC) in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, operate within the framework of a youth health service. Such youth services treat all sorts of mental health issues in young people. Other programs are located primarily in adult mental health facilities. Such programs may offer classes or group meetings just for people who recently developed psychosis and other classes or group meetings especially for the families of these young people. Typically, these programs provide someone with 2–3 years of treatment. They usually do a full evaluation of the patient every few months and keep track of how he or she is doing. If the patient needs more care afterwards, they help him or her find another program for longer-term care. In this chapter, we list some of these clinics located in various parts of the world and describe what these specialized early psychosis programs provide.

The Australian Catholic University (ACU National at www.acu.edu.au) is a public university funded by the Australian Government. There are six campuses across the country, located in Brisbane, Queensland; North Sydney, New South Wales; Strathfield, New South Wales; Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT); Ballarat, Victoria; and Melbourne, Victoria. The university serves a total of approximately 27,000 students, including both full- and part-time students, and those enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Through fostering and advancing knowledge in education, health, commerce, the humanities, science and technology, and the creative arts, ACU National seeks to make specific and targeted contributions to its local, national, and international communities. The university explicitly engages the social, ethical, and religious dimensions of the questions it faces in teaching, research, and service. In its endeavors, it is guided by a fundamental concern for social justice, equity, and inclusivity. The university is open to all, irrespective of religious belief or background. ACU National opened its doors in 1991 following the amalgamation of four Catholic tertiary institutions in eastern Australia. The institutions that merged to form the university had their origins in the mid-17th century when religious orders and institutes became involved in the preparation of teachers for Catholic schools and, later, nurses for Catholic hospitals. As a result of a series of amalgamations, relocations, transfers of responsibilities, and diocesan initiatives, more than twenty historical entities have contributed to the creation of ACU National. Today, ACU National operates within a rapidly changing educational and industrial context. Student numbers are increasing, areas of teaching and learning have changed and expanded, e-learning plays an important role, and there is greater emphasis on research. In its 2005–2009 Strategic Plan, the university commits to the adoption of quality teaching, an internationalized curriculum, as well as the cultivation of generic skills in students, to meet the challenges of the dynamic university and information environment (ACU National, 2008). The Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) Program at ACU Canberra Situated in Australia’s capital city, the Canberra campus is one of the smallest campuses of ACU National, where there are approximately 800 undergraduate and 200 postgraduate students studying to be primary or secondary school teachers through the School of Education (ACT). Other programs offered at this campus include nursing, theology, social work, arts, and religious education. A new model of pre-service secondary teacher education commenced with the introduction of the Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) program at this campus in 2005. It marked an innovative collaboration between the university and a cohort of experienced secondary school teachers in the ACT and its surrounding region. This partnership was forged to allow student teachers undertaking the program to be inducted into the teaching profession with the cooperation of leading practitioners from schools in and around the ACT. In the preparation of novices for the teaching profession, an enduring challenge is to create learning experiences capable of transforming practice, and to instill in the novices an array of professional skills, attributes, and competencies (Putnam & Borko, 2000). Another dimension of the beginning teacher experience is the need to bridge theory and practice, and to apply pedagogical content knowledge in real-life classroom practice. During the one-year Graduate Diploma program, the student teachers undertake two four-week block practicum placements, during which they have the opportunity to observe exemplary lessons, as well as to commence teaching. The goals of the practicum include improving participants’ access to innovative pedagogy and educational theory, helping them situate their own prior knowledge regarding pedagogy, and assisting them in reflecting on and evaluating their own practice. Each student teacher is paired with a more experienced teacher based at the school where he/she is placed, who serves as a supervisor and mentor. In 2007, a new dimension to the teaching practicum was added to facilitate online peer mentoring among the pre-service teachers at the Canberra campus of ACU National, and provide them with opportunities to reflect on teaching prior to entering full-time employment at a school. The creation of an online community to facilitate this mentorship and professional development process forms the context for the present case study. While on their practicum, students used social software in the form of collaborative web logging (blogging) and threaded voice discussion tools that were integrated into the university’s course management system (CMS), to share and reflect on their experiences, identify critical incidents, and invite comment on their responses and reactions from peers.