Indigenous Alcohol and Other Drugs Workers Wellbeing, Stress and Burnout Project

CRCAH Project No:IK287SE

Administering organisation:
Flinders University

Project Leader:
Ann Roche

Contact Details:
Professor Ann Roche
Director
National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA)
Flinders University
Phone: 08 8201 7575
Email: ann.roche@flinders.edu.au

Team Members:
Ann Roche, Toby Freeman, Donna Weetra, Amanda Tovell and
Allan Trifonoff

Program Manager:
Vanessa Harris,
Social and Emotional Well Being program

Funding Sources:

• Flinders University
• Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA)

Partners Involved:

• National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA)
• Flinders University

This project is endorsed as anin-kindproject of the CRCAH.

Project Summary:

This project is being undertaken at the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA) at Flinders University to identify the key antecedents and consequences of stress, burnout and wellbeing among Indigenous and non-Indigenous Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) and generic health workers who see a high proportion of Indigenous clients.

To date, there is significant interest in this project. Participants and key stakeholders have indicated that they were pleased to have been provided with this unique opportunity to give their opinion on how being an Indigenous worker and working with clients on AOD issues, impacts on them personally. The following is a typical example of some of those comments: “I’ve been working in this field for 18 years and this is the first time we as workers have ever been asked to tell our story.”

Summary of Projected Outcomes:

The primary aims and objectives of the project are to:

• Explore and report on the experiences of stress, burnout and wellbeing among Indigenous AOD and generic health workers
• Explore and report on the experiences of stress, burnout and wellbeing among non-Indigenous AOD and generic health workers who have a high proportion of Indigenous clients
• Develop an information base to inform strategies to improve worker wellbeing and reduce stress and burnout for those people working in the Indigenous AOD field.

Summary of Project Implementation:
The project will include:

• a call for submissions in April-June 2008,
• an online survey of Indigenous and non-Indigenous (who see a high proportion of Indigenous clients) health workers in the AOD field on their views about factors that contribute to stress and wellbeing in the workplace, and
• a series of in-depth interviews and focus groups with frontline workers.

The survey can be accessed at www.nceta.flinders.edu.au or a hardcopy can be provided upon request until the end of January 2009.

Timeline: July 2007 – June 2009

Related Publications and Links:

• National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA) website
• Skinner, N. & Roche, A.M. (2005). Stress and Burnout: A Prevention Handbook for the Alcohol and Other Drugs Workforce. National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA), Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.

[page last updated on 12.01.2009]