Service provider barriers to treatment and care for people with mental health and alcohol and other drug comorbidity in a metropolitan region of South Australia
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to elicit clinicians’ and workers’ knowledge, experiences and opinions of key issues pertaining to comorbidity service needs of people aged 12 years and over in a metropolitan region of South Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
As one component of a participatory action research project, this qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with mental health (MH) and alcohol and other drug (AOD) clinicians and workers (n=20).
Findings
The participants expressed concerns involving stigma towards their clients. They highlighted lack of adequate MH and AOD comorbidity service accessibility and models, regularly available clinical comorbidity workforce development, and practice supervision and skills training. These factors influenced participants’ and their colleagues’ capacity and ability to access and provide appropriate help for people needing integrated treatment and care of their co-existing comorbid conditions.
Practical implications
Findings highlight the need for coordinated and integrated, individualised holistic comorbidity services, including treatment and care best suited to Aboriginal people and refugees.
Originality/value
This study emphasises the importance of government and non-government MH and AOD services ensuring that comorbidity is responded to collaboratively and systemically. It also demonstrates the importance of professional development.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant Programme, SA Department of Health, SA Mental Health and the City of Salisbury for their generous funding and support; as well as the other collaborating partners: The Northern Adelaide Medicare Local (NAML), Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia Inc. (AHCSA), the University of South Australia and SA Network of Non-Government Drug and Alcohol Services (SANDAS) for their significant in-kind contributions to this project. The authors acknowledge the contributions of the ARC funded PhD candidates Miriam Posselt and Hepsibah Francis. The authors particularly thank all the informants for sharing their knowledge and experiences on this pertinent topic. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Citation
de Crespigny, C., Grønkjær, M., Liu, D., Moss, J., Cairney, I., Procter, N., Posselt, M., Francis Jebaraj, H.S., Schultz, T., Banders, A., King, R., Lee, D. and Galletly, C. (2015), "Service provider barriers to treatment and care for people with mental health and alcohol and other drug comorbidity in a metropolitan region of South Australia", Advances in Dual Diagnosis, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 120-128. https://doi.org/10.1108/ADD-05-2015-0007
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited