Determining the effectiveness of mental health services from a consumer perspective: Part 2: Barriers to recovery and principles for evaluation

The routine use of standardized outcome measures has been introduced to assess the effectiveness of mental health service delivery throughout Australia. The use of these measures has been criticized for failing to reflect those aspects of treatment consumers consider to affect their recovery. This is the second of a two-part paper. Its aim is to explore the views of consumers regarding factors that impede recovery and to explore the principles that ideally should underpin the evaluation of mental health services. Focus group interviews were conducted with consumers of mental health services (n = 16) from one rural and one metropolitan mental health service in Victoria, Australia. This paper presents the findings, pertaining to aspects of mental health services that pose barriers to recovery. The main themes to emerge were: staffing issues; hearing the person not the illness; lack of safety and security; and, isolation. The main themes to emerge regarding the evaluation of mental health services were: consumer involvement; peer support and more responsive care and treatment. The views of participants suggest that the effective evaluation of mental health services requires an increased focus on the views and opinions of consumers in order to develop more responsive mental health services.Associated Grant:Australian (formerly Australian and New Zealand) College of Mental Health Nurses who provided the fundin

Recent public policy and Australian older workers

This article considers the characteristics and utility of pro-work policies targeting Australian older workers that have emerged in the context of population ageing, amid concerns that this will lead to labour shortages and an increasing social welfare burden. There has been a recent surge in public policy regarding the ageing workforce, the efficacy of which has not been tested by evaluation studies. After considering the conceptual foundations and objectives of various government initiatives, it is argued that the present public policy approach may have serious flaws that are not only detrimental to the stated overall objective of prolonging working lives, but may, in fact, be harmful to older workers and fail to address the needs of business. This stems from programs reaching only a small proportion of those older people who would potentially benefit from assistance, and from misdirected effort aimed at encouraging behavioural change on the part of employers or industries. It is argued that there is a need for greater targeting of policy efforts on the actual needs of industry and for public policy itself to become more age-aware. S (Australian Bureau of Statistics), 2010, Older People and the Labour Market, Australia, 2010 S (Australian Bureau of Statistics), 2010, General Social Survey: Summary Results, Australia, 201

The Health of Children in Immigration Detention: How does Australia Compare?

We live in an age when the number of refugees worldwide is increasing. All of them have suffered physically or emotionally to a varying degree in their country of origin. The transit to a country of resettlement is fraught with further difficulties or the risk of death. This article explores the different approach taken to the management of this issue by Denmark and Iceland, in comparison to that of Australia. In particular, the different approaches to health care for children and their families are identified. The management of these issues by Denmark and Iceland would appear to be a model to follow. Outcomes of the different managements have not been assessed