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BOiMHC

Consumer outcomes: The impact of different models of Allied Psychological Service Provision

A key component of the Better Outcomes in Mental Health Care Program (BOiMHC) is Access to Allied Psychological Services (ATAPS), which supports GPs and psychologists to work together to provide optimal mental health care.

The Program Evaluation Unit has been synthesising evaluation evidence from these ATAPS projects via interim evaluation reports which are available on the Primary mental health care Australian Resource Centre (PARC) website http://som.flinders.edu.au/FUSA/PARC/alliedhealthmain.html. The 8th interim evaluation report examined the extent to which projects are achieving positive outcomes, and explored the association between different models of service delivery and varying levels of consumer outcomes.

Overall projects are achieving positive effects, mostly of large or medium magnitude, thus projects are effective in improving the mental health of consumers who are receiving psychological services.

Projects do not differ in terms of the consumer outcomes they are achieving, despite differences in service delivery models. One variable emerged as significant: projects implementing direct referral systems tended to achieve greater levels of consumer outcomes. There were also non-significant trends toward employment of allied health professionals being predictive of greater consumer outcomes and delivery of services from allied health professionals' own rooms being predictive of lesser consumer outcomes.

ATAPS projects are having a positive impact for consumers in terms of their level of functioning, severity of symptoms and/or quality of life. Service delivery models incorporating the use of a direct referral system may be associated with superior outcomes, but further work is needed to confirm this finding, since earlier work has shown that contextual factors are important in the selection of different models by projects. Findings are discussed in the light of the announcement that psychologists' services will be listed on the MBS from November 2006, as part of the new COAG mental health reforms.

For further information, contact:
Lucio Naccarella
E: l.naccarella@unimelb.edu.au