Improvement in Adults Using Australia's Public Mental Health Services
Author Information
Author(s): Philip Burgess, Jane Pirkis, Tim Coombs
Primary Institution: School of Population Health, The University of Queensland
Hypothesis
Do adults in contact with Australia's public sector mental health services get better?
Conclusion
Adults in contact with public sector mental health services generally improve, with greater improvement seen in acute inpatient settings compared to community settings.
Supporting Evidence
- Data from 101,820 collection occasions were analyzed.
- 14,659 acute inpatient episodes and 23,692 community episodes were included.
- Improvement was measured using the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS).
- Acute inpatient episodes showed critical clinical importance in improvement.
- Community episodes showed moderate clinical importance in improvement.
- Findings suggest that mental health services are effective in improving consumer outcomes.
Takeaway
This study shows that people who go to mental health services in Australia usually feel better after getting help.
Methodology
The study analyzed change scores and effect sizes from clinician-rated Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) for episodes of care in public sector mental health services.
Potential Biases
There may be systematic biases due to the exclusion of certain episodes and lack of denominator data on total consumers under care.
Limitations
The study's limitations include variability in data collection across jurisdictions and potential biases in the data due to missing or invalid episodes.
Participant Demographics
The study included adults receiving care from public sector mental health services across Australia.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.05
Confidence Interval
95%CI = 0.87–1.12
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Want to read the original?
Access the complete publication on the publisher's website