Better Medication Management for Aboriginal People with Mental Health Disorders and their Families
CRCAH Project No: IKSE101
Administering Organisation:
Flinders University
Project Leader:
Charlotte de Crespigny
Contact Details:
Charlotte de Crespigny
charlotte.decrespigny@flinders.edu.au
Team Members:
Inge Kowanko, Helen Murray, Anita de Bellis, Scott Wilson, Warren Parfoot
Funding Sources:
Commonwealth Dept Health & Ageing
Australian Rotary Health Research Foundation
Partners Involved:
- Flinders University School of Nursing and Midwifery
- Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council (SA) Inc
- Aboriginal communities in seven SA regions
CRCAH Program Manager:
Vanessa Harris,
Social and Emotional Well Being program
This project is endorsed as an in-kind project of the CRCAH.
Project Summary:
Aboriginal people with mental health conditions have particular needs given the difficult social circumstances both they and their principal carers often find themselves in.
Lack of appropriate medication information, poorly integrated services and the impact of other chronic conditions/ substance abuse issues mean that this group of people with mental health conditions are more at risk of medication mismanagement than other groups.
Using a participatory action-oriented approach, this research project aimed to identify strategies that would improve Aboriginal peoples' ability to manage their medications.
This project was also a foundation project of the Centre for Clinical Research Excellence (CCRE) in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and led to other projects and courses (see links below).
Main Messages:
This project has led to effective collaborations between Aboriginal communities, service providers and researchers to provide staff training, community workshops, practice guidelines and further research into coordinated Aboriginal mental health care and other strategies to improve safe use of medicines.
This research informs culturally appropriate policies and practices to enhance quality use of medication for Aboriginal people with mental health and other disorders. It offers a partnership model for ethical research that can produce tangible benefits for participating communities.
Key Findings:
This project highlights the complex needs of Aboriginal people with mental health problems and chronic disease co-morbidity, lack of medication education, inadequate services,poorly integrated services, and unsafe practices.
Summary of Outcomes:
The aims of this project were to:
- Explore the particular needs, experiences and contexts of Aboriginal people with mental health problems (including drug/alcohol), their carers and other family members, focusing on issues relating to management of medications.
- Recommend strategies to improve quality use of medicines by this group, informed by the findings.
- Implement and evaluate selected recommendations.
Summary of Project Implementation:
The research team used a participatory action-oriented research approach using multiple methods, inlcuding: interviews with clients, carers, community leaders and health professionals; a survey of service providers; a review of statistical hospital separation data; and a review of key documents. Recommendatins for improving medication management, safety and related issues, and implementation and evaluation of targeted strategeis, were developed collaboratively by the team, key informants, workers and local project committees.
Timeline:
The project started in 2000 and finished in 2003.
Publications:
See the list at http://www.aboriginalhealth.flinders.edu.au/research/soc_emot_wellbeing.html for many of these publications:
de Crespigny C, Kowanko I, Murray H, Wilson S and Ah Kit J, 2007, 'A nursing partnership for better outcomes in Aboriginal alcohol, other drugs and mental health', Contemporary Nurse (Special Issue: Indigenous health care advances in nursing) Vol 22, no. 2, pp275-287.
Emden C, Kowanko I, de Crespigny C and Murray H, 2005. 'Better medication management for Indigenous Australians: findings from the field', Australian Journal of Primary Health, vol 11, no. 1, pp80-90.
Kowanko I, de Crespigny C, Murray H, Emden C and Wilson S, 2005. 'Improving Indigenous health through better medication management: an overview', Australian Journal of Pirmary Health, vol 11, no. 1, pp17-23.
de Crespigny C, Emden C, Kowanko I and Murray H, 2004. 'A partnership model for ethical Indigenous research', Collegian, vol 11, no. 4, pp 7-13.
Kowanko I, de Crespigny C, Murray H, Groenkjaer M and Emden C, 2004. 'Better medication management for Aboriginal people with mental health disorders: a survey of providers', Australian Journal of Rural Health, vol 12, pp 253-257.
de Crespigny C, Kowanko I, Murray H and Emden C, 2004. 'Implementing research outcomes for better medication management for Aboriginal people', Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal, vol 28, no. 4, pp14-17.
Kowanko I, de Crespigny C, Murray H, Wilson S and Emden C, 2004. 'Better medication management for Aboriginal people', Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal, vol 28, no. 2, pp 11-13.
Kowanko I, de Crespginy C and Murray H, 2003, Better medication management for Aboriginal people with mental health disorders and their carers - Final Report 2003 (a collaborative project of the Flinders University School of Nursing and Midwifery and the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council (SA) Inc).
Kowanko I, de Crespigny C, Murray H and Groenkjaer M, 2003. Better medication management for Aboriginal people with mental health disorders and their carers - survey of service providers 2003 (in partnership with the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council (SA) Inc).
Kowanko I, de Crespigny C and Murray H, 2003. Better medication management for Aboriginal people with mental health disorders and their carers - report on research conducted in Coober Pedy 2003 (in partnership with the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council (SA) Inc).
Kowanko I, de Crespigny C, Murray H and Groenkjaer M, 2003. Better medication management for Aboriginal people with mental health disorders and their carers - report on research conducted in the Port Augusta region 2003 (in partnership with the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council (SA) Inc).
Kowanko I, de Crespigny C and Murray H, 2003. Better medication management for Aboriginal people with mental health disorders and their carers - report on research conducted in the Port Lincoln region 2003 (in partnership with the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council (SA) Inc).
de Crespigny C, 2003. Better medication management for Aboriginal people: Pilot study in Northern Metropolitan Adelaide.
Links to related CRCAH funded and in-kind projects:
Aboriginal People Travelling Well - Addressing the transport needs of Aboriginal people
Chronic Condition Management Strategies in Aboriginal Communities
Mental Health Partnerships in South Australia
Developing Training Pathways to meet the needs of Aboriginal People with Disabilities