Development of mental health first aid guidelines for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing problems with substance use: a Delphi study

BMC Psychiatry

Research Article

Leonard G Kanowski¹  Donna Stanley¹  Anna H Kingston²  Laura M Hart²  Anthony F Jorm²  Sarah J Bourchier²  Dan I Lubman³ 

[1] Aboriginal Mental Health and Drug & Alcohol, Greater Western Area Health Service, New South Wales Department of Health, Orange, New South Wales, Australia;Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia;Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia;Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Eastern Health and Monash University, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia;

关键词: Mental Health;    Aboriginal People;    Panel Member;    Problem Drinking;    Torres Strait Islander;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-244X-10-78

 received in 2010-06-02, accepted in 2010-10-08,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundProblems with substance use are common in some Aboriginal communities. Although problems with substance use are associated with significant mortality and morbidity, many people who experience them do not seek help. Training in mental health first aid has been shown to be effective in increasing knowledge of symptoms and behaviours associated with seeking help. The current study aimed to develop culturally appropriate guidelines for providing mental health first aid to an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person who is experiencing problem drinking or problem drug use (e.g. abuse or dependence).MethodsTwenty-eight Aboriginal health experts participated in two independent Delphi studies (n = 22 problem drinking study, n = 21 problem drug use; 15 participated in both). Panellists were presented with statements about possible first aid actions via online questionnaires and were encouraged to suggest additional actions not covered by the content. Statements were accepted for inclusion in the guidelines if they were endorsed by ≥ 90% of panellists as either 'Essential' or 'Important'. At the end of the two Delphi studies, participants were asked to give feedback on the value of the project and their participation experience.ResultsFrom a total of 735 statements presented over two studies, 429 were endorsed (223 problem drinking, 206 problem drug use). Statements were grouped into sections based on common themes (n = 7 problem drinking, n = 8 problem drug use), then written into guideline documents. Participants evaluated the Delphi method employed, and the guidelines developed, as useful and appropriate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.ConclusionsAboriginal health experts were able to reach consensus about culturally appropriate first aid for problems with substance use. Many first aid actions endorsed in the current studies were not endorsed in previous international Delphi studies, conducted on problem drinking and problem drug use in non-Indigenous people, highlighting the need for culturally specific first aid strategies to be employed when assisting Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Hart et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.