Current Health Issues in the Australian Healthcare System - Essay Example

? Current Health Issues in Relation to the Australian Health Care System Current Health Issues in Relation to the Australian Health Care System Depression in Australia Why it is a current health care issue? Depression is a medical disorder that makes a person feel sad and uninterested in one’s life. Depression can affect its victim’s emotions, as well as behavior. This makes it difficult for people who suffer from depression to experience hardship in carrying out normal daily tasks. When a person suffers from depression for a long period of time, he or she can even begin to feel that life is not worth living and attempt suicide. Health Issue Statistics e.g. Incidence According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 6% of Australian adults experience depression on a regular basis. Among employed Australians, 3.6% Australians experience depression on a regular basis. The financial cost of depression, which is estimated to be more than 50 billion dollars annually in Australia, includes the direct treatment costs as well as indirect costs such as lost productivity. Depression also exacts financial as well as emotional costs within the family of the affected individuals. While Australian adults of different age groups have reported suffering from depression at one time or another, it would appear to be most prevalent among women in their 20s, men in their late 30s, and in elderly Australians of both genders (Haywood, Garrat, and Fitzpatrick, 2005). Many Australians do not feel that their negative feelings may actually be characteristic of depression. This makes them quite reluctant to seek for medical treatment until they are almost driven to attempt suicide by the negative feelings. Population type affected e.g. gender, age, group etc According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009), one in six Australian adults will experience serious depression on an annual basis. The high risk groups include teenagers, young adults, and the elderly people. While women are more likely to report feeling depressed and seek a relief for the negative feelings, Australian men are more likely to seek for more permanent ways, such as suicide, of dealing with depressing feelings. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009), depression among Australian men is linked to other illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Australian men are more likely to leave episodes of depression unreported than Australian women. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009), Australian men who are 65 years of age and above have the highest suicide rate in the nation, accounting for 29 suicides per 100,000 cases. A new Women's Health Australia research study has also provided evidence that Australian women between the ages of 28 and 33 tend to experience depression even more than their mothers, or even grandmothers, did. According to this study, one in five of these women goes regularly to doctors so as to get prescriptions for anti-depressants (Haywood, Garrat, and Fitzpatrick, 2005). Identify a range of factors which may affect the health of this client group including risk factors. Give consideration to any specific health and social circumstances of this client group. It is difficult to determine the exact factors that cause people to be depressed because there are so many factors that can trigger an episode of depression. In an Australian society, there are multiple factors that affect indigenous groups such as the Aboriginal community and result in an almost community-wide state of depression which afflicts the young as well as the old (Hunter, 2007). The Aborigines have to deal with racism, poverty, and feelings of detachment that are caused by the fact that their traditional values are for the most part irrelevant in the modern world (Hunter, 2007). This has spurred generational drug and alcohol abuse among the Aborigines which further exacerbates the incidence of depression among the community’s citizens. Among other Australians, there are factors such life traumas such as loss of jobs, failure in business, relationship break-ups or divorce, social isolation, and the lack of a feeling of connectedness within the community that can bring depression. Parents or relatives who have to look after chronically ill or mentally disabled children or other relatives are also prone to depression. People who often entertain negative thought patterns or have low self esteem are also prone to fits of depression. In addition, Australians who lack of effective ways of coping with life’s normal problems or unforeseen trials are likely to get depressed more easily than those who depend on their faith or have confidence on something bigger than their troubles. Parents who are predisposed to depression also tend to have children who experience depression often. Adults who experienced painful childhoods due to the incidence of emotional physical, or sexual abuse, and who were emotionally or physically neglected in childhood are more likely than others to experience unexplained episodes of depression. For elderly Australians, a life filled with chronic pain, isolation from children who have relocated, or the death of a spouse and other family members can bring serious depression (Haywood, Garrat, and Fitzpatrick, 2005). It has been established that bereavement psychologically affects more elderly Australian men than it does women. Identify any existing primary health care services/agencies that address this health care issue and how these can be accessed There are different government run health services that help Australians who deal with depression. The government-run and sponsored mental health intervention spectrum seeks to teach Australians how to identify depression symptoms early, prevent the incidence of depression, and manage depression so as to prevent the incidence of the type of acute depression that results in suicidal thoughts. Where pre-schoolers are concerned, the Australian government has recently introduced the ‘Triple P’ Positive Parenting for Preschoolers Program which aims to improve parenting skills so as to check the possibility of children and teenagers developing depression symptoms. For Australian adults, there are programs such as those provided in the University of Queensland’s Problem Solving for Life Program, the Gatehouse Project in Melbourne, and Griffith University’s Resourceful Adolescent Project. There are also other options such as the SANE establishment or ARAFEMI helpline. Identify health promotion strategies within the community directed towards prevention, treatment and/or management of the health care issue At present, there are numerous Australian research centers that are involved in appraising psychological and medical treatments, in order to find ways of preventing relapses into depression or prevent its incidence altogether. In the recent past, nearly all antidepressant prescriptions and mood-stabilizing medicines have been trialed in Australia. This has allowed for local experts to be able to develop effective cocktails that have few if any side effects for users. Australian researchers have also conducted psychological treatments on behavioral as well as cognitive therapy so as to come up with psychological approaches that hinder relapses from occurring. At present, there are ongoing research studies being carried out to assess the true benefits of programs that are aimed at preventing depression from occurring in young adults as well as teenagers. Identify any health policies or strategies which have been implemented by the government in relation to this health care issue The Australian government’s main plans have to do with funding programs that seek to prevent the incidence of depression from occurring among its younger and older populations. For sufferers of depression, there is a range of different intervention tactics that are available to treat depressive disorders. The Australian Psychological Society (APS) which benefits from funds from the national government, as well as other establishments, is currently evaluating the role of psychologists with the aim of making improvements to the practice of counseling depressed people. In Australian public hospitals, there are methods such as the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS); a non-invasive management method which uses a magnetic field to motivate nerve cells in external areas of the brain. This is a much more effective government sponsored method of treating depression than electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The Mindframe Initiative is another government sponsored comprehensive strategy whose objective is to effect media representation of matters regarding mental illness. This will help depressed people to understand that they are not alone while also helping to encourage accurate portrayals of the manageable disorder of depression (Haywood, Garrat, and Fitzpatrick, 2005). The Australian government also supports agencies such as the Aboriginal Counseling Services which use culturally sensitive methods to counsel depressed Aborigine citizens (Hunter, 2007). The Aboriginal Counseling Services has a mentoring program for young Aborigine- Australians that seeks to curtail abuse problems and stop them from affecting other younger generations. What education would an enrolled nurse provide to promote holistic well being for a client with this health issue? e.g. emotional, social, financial well being etc In Australia, it is mental health counselors who are first entrusted with the responsibility of counseling depressed people. Severe cases of depression which may require physical treatment are referred by the mental health counselors to psychiatrists. A mental health counselor has to have a Master’s degree from a certified university in the discipline of mental health counseling. As is the case with many counseling careers, counselors who specialize in mental health aspects are expected to complete some years of supervised training which are then followed by sitting for a licensing exam. While educational requirements for one to be a mental health counselor vary in different regions, mental health counselors are expected to always be aware of the latest trends in the treatment of various disorders. Australia’s National Board of Certified Counselors also expects its members to pass the National Counselor Exam and also finish an additional suggested number of counseling educational courses. The board also requires a mandatory drug screening exercise as well as a criminal background check as part of the licensing process. References Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2009). National survey of mental health and wellbeing: summary of results, 4326.0, 2007. ABS: Canberra Haywood, K. L., Garrat, A. M., & Fitzpatrick, R. (2005). Quality of life in older people: a structured review of generic self-assessed health instruments. Quality of Life Research, 14, 1651-1668. Hunter, E. (2007). Disadvantage and discontent: A review of issues relevant to the mental health of rural and remote Indigenous Australians. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 15 (2), 88–93. Read More