Families Affected by Mental Health Problems in New South Wales - Essay Example

Note: if you need anything just send me a message. Thanks! Health Development/Promotion Project The Gaining Ground Program: Working with children and families affected by mental health problems in New South Wales, Australia 1. The Gaining Ground Program 1.1 Background The results of the study conducted by the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing in 2007 suggest that about 20% or roughly, 3.2 million Australians from 16 to 85 years of age are experiencing symptoms of mental disorder (AIHW, 2010, p.6). For this reason, the Australian government reaffirms its commitment to the National Mental Health Strategy in order to intensify health promotion and reduce the impact of mental disorders on individuals, families, and the community. These include seeking the involvement of sectors other than health to promote, monitor, and evaluate progress in mental health outcomes (AIHW, 2010, p.8). GGP or the Gaining Ground Program was formed in 1995 as an Interagency Committee in South Western Sydney with advocacy to address the needs of children, young people, and families affected by mental health problems. These include epidemiological surveys, raising awareness, dissemination of information through conferences, and conducting mental health enhancing activities in a friendly and supportive environment like the Getaway Camps- developed by the committee offering sporting and recreation activities for young campers. GGP intends to raise awareness of mental health workers about the need of the target group, coordinate and evaluate strategies for promoting mental health and well-being of children and their parents, and build a network of capable staff to deal with these particular client groups (Sozomenou & Sneddon, 2004). 1.2 Aims and Objectives The primary aim of GGP is to promote the mental health and well-being of children with their families affected by mental health problem. Their objectives include raising the awareness of those involved in mental health promotion and development about the needs of children and young people with parents or family members experiencing mental health problems. Gather information and develop strategies for effective working with target group, and established a network of well-informed and capable staff that will deal with these client groups (Sozomenou & Sneddon, 2004, p.1). 1.3 Population or Target Group GGP’s mental health promotion and development is divided into three target groups. The first group are children aged between 9 and 14 years of age who are living with a parent affected by mental health problems. The second group are young people aged 12 to 18 living who are also living with a parent with a mental health problem. The third are the parents themselves who are affected by mental health problems (Sozomenou & Sneddon, 2004, p.1). 2. Strategies used to achieve the project’s aims and objectives 2.1 Method and Design The Gaining Ground Program has three important strands – promote the welfare of children with parents affected by a mental health problem, coordinate workshops and forums and developed strategies for effective working, and improving the knowledge and skill of those that will provide the needs of children. For this reason, GGP developed a programme with eight components that can effectively deal with the various target group mentioned earlier (Sozomenou & Sneddon, 2004, p.1-2). Similarly, several quantitative measures were employed in analysing and evaluating the outcome of health promotion initiative. These include Child Depression Scale, Adolescent Coping Scale, Self-esteem Scale, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Life Skills Profile, and Parenting Stress Index for the pilot parenting program (ibid, p.2). 2.2 Functions of the Eight Components of Gaining Ground Program 2.2.1 Getaway Camps In cooperation with Green-acre Lions Club, government and non-governmental agencies including bilingual and Aboriginal workers, Gaining Ground managed to provide children and young people (9 to 14 years of age) with Getaway Camps, an evidence-based therapeutic component, where they can have fun, opportunity to explore their feelings, improve their coping skills and self-esteem, and develop better communication and social skills. This program component includes three integrated components such as Cognitive Therapy Programme, Drama Therapy Workshops, and various breather activities providing children and young people opportunities to relieve stress they experienced at home and school (Sozomenou & Sneddon, 2004, p.2). 2.2.2 Sailing adventure weekends This program is associated with the above initiative. In partnership with Royal Motor Yacht Club at Pittwarter and the Rotary Club of Padstow, GGP provide sailing training every weekend. However, this program is limited to campers with leadership qualities who once trained as a member of the sailing with have the opportunity to participate inshore races. The purpose is to teach young people to function in a cohesive manner and be responsible on what they do (Sozomenou & Sneddon, 2004, p.2). 2.2.3 Adolescent Program The target population of this program nine weeks (once a week) program are young people aged between 12 and 18 living with a parent with similar problem. Its primary purpose is to enhance young people’s coping skills and resilience, improve communication and stress management skills, improve self-esteem and eliminate the stigma about mental health problems, better understanding of the cause and treatment of mental illness, and building relationship with peers (Sozomenou & Sneddon, 2004, p.2). 2.2.4 Family Liaison Officers There are three liaison officers selected for this program, their role is to assist mental health workers, and other service providers identify children and young people with parents affected by mental health problems. These include identifying and supporting their needs, conducting culturally appropriate assessment and intervention, and promote interagency service delivery for the target population (Sozomenou & Sneddon, 2004, p.2). 2.2.5 Pilot Parenting Program The target population in this program are the parents who affected by mental health problems. The purpose is to enhance their self-esteem and skills as parents, remove participating families from isolation, and reduce the impact of parents with mental health problems on their children (Sozomenou & Sneddon, 2004, p.2). 2.2.6 Pilot Mother-Infant Playgroups This program specifically intended for mothers with mental health problem. The purpose is to give mothers opportunity to develop confidence in the parenting ability and develop skills and confidence for effective community interaction by providing access to supervised playgroups. Through mother-infant playgroups, the program expects to reduce isolation among target families, increase participation of such families in the community and bring them closer to appropriate services and agencies (Sozomenou & Sneddon, 2004, p.2). 2.2.7 Interagency Committee The Interagency Committee is the central access point for various agencies and services to meet and discuss issues about mental health and the needs of children and young people with a parent affected by mental health problems. This program enables different groups to meet four times a year, update their knowledge about issues of concern, and develop plan for community action (Sozomenou & Sneddon, 2004, p.2). 2.2.8 Education Programmes for Workers Similarly, this program enable mental health workers to educate themselves and better understand the difficulties of children and young people living with a parent affected by mental health problem (Sozomenou & Sneddon, 2004, p.2). 2.3 Evaluation technique and procedures Three quantitative measures were employed by GGP to evaluate young campers and camp leaders. These measures are applied immediately after the participant entered the camp, shortly before they leave the program, and after six months. They are intended to measure young campers’ strengths and weaknesses through questionnaires, the level of depression felt and coping skills (children and their parent with a mental health problem) through Child Depression Scale and Adolescent Coping scale respectively. Camp leaders are also evaluated and complete questionnaires to determine the perceived effectiveness of the camp (Sozomenou & Sneddon, 2004, p.2). Another set of quantitative measures were used to provide clinician with participants’ information before the Gaining Ground Adolescent Program starts. These information include the current level of participants’ self-esteem determined using Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, level of participants’ coping skills as determined by Adolescent Coping Scale, and participants’ desperation level as indicated in the Beck Hopelessness Scale. Mental Illness Questionnaire and Feedback Form were also used to gather relevant information from participants. In the Gaining Ground Parenting Program, Life Skills Profile and Parenting Stress Index were used to evaluate parents affected by mental health problems. This includes a one-hour exit interview with questionnaires specifically designed for this program camp (Sozomenou & Sneddon, 2004, p.2). 3. Project Outcomes Collaborative partnership is central to the Gaining Ground Program’s success particularly in raising awareness of mental health workers and issues surrounding children and young people living with a parent affected by a mental health. Using intervention strategies and measures mentioned earlier, the Gaining Ground Program realized a number of beneficial outcomes. These include the following: Improvement in interventions supporting the need of families belonging to the target group, Services for children and adolescents are improved. Parental role of parents with a mental health problem are improved through enhanced competence and satisfaction of concern parents. Improved access to appropriate services through effective liaison work and clear pathways for referral. Mental health workers are now more effective in meeting the needs of children and families. 4. Analysis of strength and weaknesses, innovation and best practices With eight components systematically linked to each other including a number of strategic partnership, the Gaining Ground Program is undoubtedly a well-though health development/promotion project. Its primary strength is the fact that it had approached parental mental health problem and the needs of affected children and young people as one interrelated issue. For instance, while attending to the needs of children and young people through Getaway Camps and other sports and recreational activities, it is also improving parenting ability and skills, and educating mental health workers involved. This evidence-based program applied scientific reasoning including systematic use of data, analytic tools, and processes which according to Ivanov & Blue (2008), is crucial in determining future public health intervention. Moreover, best practices in health development and promotion often include systematic information gathering and analysis, and staff development (ibid, p.652) that are evident in GGP’s approach. For instance, to ensure adequate and reliable information, GGP deployed three family liaison officers along with quantitative measures administered before and after the program. These include campers’ individual information such as depression level and coping skills before and after participations and parenting ability of parents affected by a mental health problem. The best part of this approach however, is channelling theses important information to clinicians, mental health workers, and other agencies to improved their knowledge and understanding of children and young people living with a parent affected by a mental health problem. The methods by which the program measure individual participant’s condition and ability such as Child Depression Scale, Adolescent Coping Scale, Self-Esteem Scale, and others before and after the program is suggestive of the organizers intention to form an understandable and feasible link between program activities and health results. According to Healey & Zimmerman (2010), it is critical for a health development/promotion program to establish a set of quantitative measures as this will determine if a particular strategy actually lead to improvement or not (p.267). The Child Depression Scale for instance, was used to evaluate children and young people before and after their participation in Getaway Camps, which by analysis is Gaining Ground’s way of measuring improvements in emotional and psychological condition. According to Aguilar-Gaxiola & Gullotta (2008), this 27-item self-report scale is designed to detect negative mood, interpersonal difficulties, ineffectiveness, and negative self-esteem (p.145). In other words, it is measuring the variation in participants’ behaviour before and after the program. Similarly, the pilot Gaining Ground Parenting Program used Life Skills Profile, which according to Thornicroft (2010) is designed for people with schizophrenia and serious disorders to determine their general functioning during the last three months (p.92). The purpose of such test is to find out what a person can do rather than their weaknesses, needs, deficits, and problems (Cupitt, 2009, p.65), which by analysis is another positive part of the Gaining Ground Program. However, although the Gaining Ground Program undoubtedly employed a good number of reliable outcome measures, there seems some confusion with target population particularly in the overlapping age range of children, young people, and adolescent. In the Getaway Camp for instance, approximately 70 young campers with aged 9 to 14 years can participate while the Gaining Ground Adolescent Program or GGAP can take in young people aged between 12 and 18 years. Note that GGAP is not linked or prerequisite to Getaway Camps as an advanced program. Moreover, these two components have almost the same objectives such as developing stress management skills and supportive relationship with peers, enhancing self-esteem, and so on, which by analysis is unnecessary duplication of efforts, time wasting, and redundant use of resources. Another weakness of the Gaining Ground Program is the fact that it is an evidence-based health promotion program, which according to Trinder & Reynolds (2000), has no empirical justification (p.213). Consequently, the Gaining Ground Program as indicated in its method and design is highly dependent of pre-1997 achievements and evidence, which was developed by its Project Officer into a strategic plan. The quality of these evidence produce by different organizations working in mental health promotion may be exaggerated and presented with insufficient critical assessment. For instance, according to Cattan & Tilford (2006), evidence concerning the effectiveness of mental health promotion is often not based on areas that have the maximum needs such as low and middle-income families where mental health is actually compromised (p.222). Therefore, it may possible that despite use of reliable outcome measures, the structure of the program itself is defective as evidenced by the two overlapping components discussed earlier. 5. Reflection Promoting the mental health and well-being of children living with a parent affected by a mental health problem is one of the strength of the Gaining Ground Program in terms of health promotion and service to the community. As evidenced by the results, the program did managed to raise awareness among staff, children, young people, parents and able to enhance social skills of parents suffering from mental illness. In this report’s point of view, the program in general demonstrate good practices in health promotion and one evidence is the use of Life Skills Profile since it is critical that assessment of individuals experiencing the impact of mental illness in the family does not become a wholly negative process. Although there are some shortcomings particularly in its structure and overlapping components, the Gaining Ground Program in terms of health promotion and improvement of services, increasing the capacity of mental health workers, and collaborative working with strategic partnership is generally innovative. For instance, the program approached mental health problem using five different perspective – its impact to children and young people, the role of a parent affected by a mental health problem to his or her children, the importance of liaising between mental health workers and other service providers,, and the beneficial effect of educating and increasing the capacity of mental health workers involved in the program. 6. References Aguilar-Gaxiola S. & Gullotta T, (2008), Depression in Latinos: Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention, US: Springer AIHW, (2010), Mental health services in Australia 2007-08, Mental health series no. 12, Cat. no. HSE 88, Canberra: AIHW Cattan M. & Tilford S, (2006), Mental Health Promotion: A Lifespan Approach, US: McGraw Hill Education Cupitt C, (2009), Reaching Out: The Psychology of Assertive Outreach, UK: Taylor & Francis Healey B. & Zimmerman R, (2010), The New World of Health Promotion: New Program Development, Implementation, and Evaluation, UK: Jones & Bartlett Publishers Ivanov L. & Blue C, (2008), Public Health Nursing: Leadership, policy, and practice, US: Cengage Learning Sozomenou A. & Sneddon A, (2004), The Gaining Ground Program: Working with children and families affected by mental health problems in New South Wales, Australia, Mental health promotion: Case Studies from Countries, France: World Health Organizations Publications Thornicroft G, (2010), Mental Health Outcome Measures, US: RCPsych Publications Trinder L. & Reynolds S, (2000), Evidence-based practice: A critical appraisal, US: John Wiley & Sons Read More