Models of Mental Health Delivery: Efficacy, Support and Policy

The primary care sector in Australia is facing a number of challenges in the care and treatment of patients with depression and anxiety. They include: concerns about the quality of care for individuals not meeting standards for good, evidence-based practice; poor access to services; depression being treated in an episodic manner and the high cost of enhanced care. Finally, there may be too few practitioners to deliver care, even if it could be afforded. We also know little about effective approaches in delivering evidence-based treatment. Although both antidepressant medication and cognitive behaviour therapy are effective therapies for depression, the models, processes or settings in which these therapies can best be delivered have been the subject of little systematic research. Consequently, the aim of the present evidence synthesis is to provide an overview of the effectiveness of the approaches to the delivery of mental health care and to indicate the circumstances in which different models might work.

The research reported in this paper is a project of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy. The information and opinions contained in it do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.