Evaluation of a culturally sensitive social and emotional well-being program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia Country of Publication: Australia NLM ID: 9305903 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1440-1584 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 10385282 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Aust J Rural Health

Publication: Amidale : Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia
Original Publication: Armidale : Association for Australian Rural Nurses, c1992-

Social Support* ; Suicide Prevention*; Health Promotion/*methods ; Health Services, Indigenous/*organization & administration ; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander/*psychology ; Rural Population/*statistics & numerical data; Adult ; Attitude to Health ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mental Health/statistics & numerical data ; Middle Aged ; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander/statistics & numerical data ; Northern Territory ; Risk Factors

Objective: To evaluate Deadly Thinking, a social and emotional well-being promotion program targeted to remote and rural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Deadly Thinking aims to improve emotional health literacy, psychological well-being and attitudes towards associated help-seeking.
Design: Participants completed pre/post-test evaluations via a brief self-report survey immediately before and after the Deadly Thinking workshop.
Setting: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in rural and regional Australia.
Participants: Data were obtained from 413 participants (69.8% female, mean age 41.6 years), of whom 70.4% identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders.
Intervention: Deadly Thinking workshops involve participant's engaging with a series of videos and facilitated group discussions with other participants related to social and emotional well-being topics relevant to individuals and communities.
Main Outcome Measures: Participants completed measures of psychological distress, suicidal ideation, substance use, changes in attitudes towards help-seeking and help-seeking intentions and satisfaction with the workshop. Additionally, participants in a train-the-trainer workshop rated their perceived confidence to deliver the program post-workshop.
Result: Participants reported positive perceptions of community safety and well-being and low rates of marked distress, with no significant difference between train-the-trainer and community workshop participants. Results indicated significant improvement in help-seeking intentions post-workshop and high rates of satisfaction with workshop components.
Conclusion: Initial evaluation indicates good acceptability and feasibility of delivering the Deadly Thinking program in rural and remote Indigenous communities; however, more robust evaluation of the program is warranted using controlled conditions to measure effectiveness, particularly for changing in help-seeking behaviour.
(© 2020 National Rural Health Alliance Ltd.)

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15012 Movember Foundation

Keywords: community intervention; help-seeking; mental health; mental health promotion; rural and remote

Date Created: 20200811 Date Completed: 20210621 Latest Revision: 20221207

20221213

10.1111/ajr.12656

32776400