Abstract
BackgroundThe Working Together For Mental Health course is an 8-hour course designed to demystify mental illness and mental health services. The main target group for the course is people working in human service organisations who provide services for people with mental illness.MethodsA questionnaire was administered to all participants attending the course during 2003 (n = 165). Participants completed the questionnaire before and immediately after the course, and at three month follow-up.ResultsA response rate of 69% was achieved with 114 people completing the questionnaire on all three occasions. The responses showed a significant improvement in the self-assessed knowledge and confidence of participants to provide human services to people with a mental health problem or disorder, three months after the course. There was no significant improvement in participants' attitudes or beliefs about people with a mental health problem or disorder at three month follow-up; however, participants' attitudes were largely positive before entering the course.ConclusionThe Working Together For Mental Health course was successful in improving participants' confidence and knowledge around providing human services to people with a mental health illness.
Highlights
The Working Together For Mental Health course is an 8-hour course designed to demystify mental illness and mental health services
Improving partnerships between the community and disability support services, consumers and specialist mental health services has been identified by the Australian Second National Mental Health Plan as essential to achieving an appropriate and coordinated system of care that meets the needs of individual consumers across the life span [1]
Working Together for Mental Health is a one-day course developed by the Sydney South West Area Health Service (SSWAHS) Area Mental Health Education team and the SSWAHS Mental Health non-government organisations (NGOs) Partnerships Program to address the need for more information and provide an avenue to improve partnerships between mental health services, human service providers and consumers
Summary
The Working Together For Mental Health course is an 8-hour course designed to demystify mental illness and mental health services. The main target group for the course is people working in human service organisations who provide services for people with mental illness. The mental health literacy of staff in agencies providing human services can impact on the availability of disability support services for people with a mental illness. A survey conducted in Sydney South West Area Health Service (SSWAHS) found that while staff in non-government organisations (NGOs) had regular contact with people with a mental illness, they were often not confident about providing services to this client group and requested more information about mental illness (Robinson R. unpublished report, 2003). The course is designed to improve participants' attitudes towards people who experience mental illness as well as emphasise that participants' existing professional skills are adequate for providing human services for this client group. More information about the course content is in the curriculum document [see Additional file 1]
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