Citation

Malcolm H. Aust. J. Rural Health 2000; 8(3): 167-172.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Association for Australian Rural Nurses; National Rural Health Alliance, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1046/j.1440-1584.2000.00306.x

PMID

11249405

Abstract

To address the high rate of depression and suicide in rural Australia requires a multifaceted approach to educate the community, improve the skills of health workers and provide user-friendly patient counselling. The present paper describes a model that covers each of these aspects and details the outcomes with respect to the doctors and the community. Improved awareness in the community of mental illness and the availability of treatment, decreasing the stigma of such a diagnosis, and increasing the skills and reducing the isolation of doctors in rural areas who treat mental illness were all positive benefits from this cost-effective way of providing mental health care in a primary setting. The adoption of this model in all primary care settings is advocated.

Language: en

Keywords

Community Mental Health Services; Family Practice; Humans; Models, Organizational; Outcome Assessment, Health Care; Physicians; Primary Health Care; Rural Health Services; Tasmania