Clinician stakeholder experiences of a new youth mental health model in Australia: A qualitative study

Abstract

Aim Late teens and early adulthood is the peak age of onset for mental disorders. Currently, there is a gap between primary mental health care and more intensive mental health services for young people in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Two headspace Early Intervention Teams (hEITs) were developed to bridge this gap in Sydney Local Health District (SLHD), in Sydney, Australia. This study aims to explore clinician experiences of hEIT after the first 2 years of implementation. Methods Semistructured interviews were conducted with key clinicians working within hEIT or closely associated with hEIT. Nine interviews were conducted, transcribed and analysed using qualitative thematic analysis. Results Four themes were identified: (1) building a bridge between services, (2) filling a clinical gap, (3) service collaborations and their challenges and (4) difficulties of small team size. Conclusions There is evidence that clinicians value the service provided by hEIT. There are difficulties such as referral confusion, staff turnover and suggestions to increase staffing to improve the stability, skill diversity and viability of the service. Findings have implications for other collaborative youth mental health models.

Bridging the gap: A new integrated early intervention service for young people with complex mental health issues

“…The reported positive experiences of care suggest that the partnership between the specialized mental health service and the 'youthfriendly' primary care headspace service was positively experienced by the young people, as found in other co-located, integrated services (Beere et al, 2019). The experiences of clinical stakeholders in this partnership have been reported elsewhere (Nash et al, 2021) and find that despite the inherent challenges in such clinical and service partnerships, the positioning and delivery of hEIT was also positive for those working within each service and the team itself.…”

“…The inconsistent reporting of outcome measures in the electronic medical record system is an important finding. Staff factors may have impacted on this finding, as hEIT is a small team, and in 2018 had annual funding and contracts, therefore vulnerable to staff shortages (Nash et al, 2021). Indeed, staff shortages occurred during the 6 months of this project, resulting in an increase in workload for the remaining team and a closure to new referrals for a 6-week period.…”

“…T A B L E 3 Demographic data of the cohort at admission to hEIT (N = 26) Finally, there are other aspects of the service that have yet to be examined before discussing the value and sustainability of the hEIT model of care. A cost benefit analysis of the service has not yet been examined, or whether growth in size of the team is feasible to see more young people and provide a broader skill set within the team, as suggested by clinicians (Nash et al, 2021). A more in-depth qualitative analysis of young people's experience of the service is also needed.…”

“…hEIT has access to services of headspace and SLHD such as psychologists, general practitioners, social supports, group programmes, specialist, hospital services and after-hours acute care. Further details of the model of care of hEIT, staffing and clinician experience, has been published (Nash et al, 2021).…”