Proposal for an Education Tool to Address Adolescent Depression in Australia

This proposal aims to address the lack of awareness and support for adolescent depression in Australia. The research identifies depression as a major mental health issue among Australian adolescents aged 10-19. The lack of knowledge and awareness about the disease among the students and their primary care providers have led to the worsening of the scenario. The proposed education tool involves counselling sessions for affected students, parents, and mentors to increase awareness and provide relief to the affected individuals.

Task description:
Identify an area of specialisation in the health setting which interests you. Using research,
identify a gap in education which has an impact on outcomes. Write a proposal for an
education tool to help close this gap.
Criterion 1:
Identifies an area of specialty within the health setting 50 words 6%
The speciality area that has been chosen for this assignment is depression on Australian
adolescents aged 10-19. Depression can be defined as a major mental health issue that
affects approximately 20% of the adolescents world-wide (World Health Organization
2017). As mentioned by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2016), it has been
reported that one in 13 Australian adolescents are experiencing depression with the
major prevalence being found within the age-group of 10 to 19 years.
Criterion 2:
Relevant research of a high level is used to identify an educational gap within this
specialty area 300-400 words 15%
The period of adolescence marks a healthy transition to adulthood. However, the
adolescence phase is characterized by emotional vulnerabilities. As stated by Bowes et al.
(2015), depression has been identified as the most prevalent mental health issue among
the adolescent group of students. However, it should also be noted in this regard that on
account of the absence of vivid external symptoms, depression is often overlooked as a
serious problem. The mentioned age group between 10 to 19 years is laden with
emotional insecurities. A number of issues pertaining to bullying, rejection and failure
have been studied to be the major causes of depression among teenagers (Bowes et al.,
2015). It is important to understand that the developmental phase of adolescence brings
with it a cascade of physiological changes that altogether elicit a complex response which
makes it challenging for the teenagers to come to terms with (Mcloughlin et al.2015).
Further lack of knowledge and awareness about the disease among the students and their
primary care providers have led to the worsening of scenario. Reduced awareness about
depression and its negative implication on mental health in schools encourage activities
such as, bullying or calling names which leads to emotional instability that ultimately
results in depression. In addition to this, lack of knowledge about the difference between
sadness and depression leads to stereotyping and stigmatization (Camara et al. 2017). In
this regard, it should be mentioned that access to professional support is drastically
affected on account of a negative perception towards the nature of the problem (Camara
et al. 2017). Due to the lack of appropriate support services, the issue mostly remains
unidentified and leads to incidences of self-harm and even suicide (Mojtabai et al. 2014).
Thus, it can be said that there is a need to increase awareness about adolescent
depression and its negative impact in schools so as to improve access to support services
and at the same time overcome the barriers that limit access. It should also be mentioned
here that the awareness programs should aim at identifying the causes of depression
among the adolescents and its related effect so as to design structured intervention
programs (Bertha and Balazs 2013). Therefore, on the basis of the findings of the research
studies, an existing gap was identified in terms of access to appropriate support for
dealing with the underlying causes of depression. Thus, it can be said that mandatory
provision of counselling support across schools, colleges and educational institutions can
help in improving the access to support facilities and facilitate positive outcome (Ruble et

al.2013).
References:
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2019. Home - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
[online] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Available at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/ [Accessed
18 Jan. 2019].
Acun-Kapikiran, N., Körükcü, Ö. and Kapikiran, S., 2014. The Relation of Parental Attitudes to Life
Satisfaction and Depression in Early Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem. Educational
Sciences: Theory and Practice, 14(4), pp.1246-1252.
Bertha, E.A. and Balázs, J., 2013. Subthreshold depression in adolescence: a systematic
review. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 22(10), pp.589-603.
Bowes, L., Joinson, C., Wolke, D. and Lewis, G., 2015. Peer victimisation during adolescence and
its impact on depression in early adulthood: prospective cohort study in the United
Kingdom. bmj, 350, p.h2469.
Cairns, K.E., Yap, M.B.H., Pilkington, P.D. and Jorm, A.F., 2014. Risk and protective factors for
depression that adolescents can modify: a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal
studies. Journal of affective disorders, 169, pp.61-75.
Camara, M., Bacigalupe, G. and Padilla, P., 2017. The role of social support in adolescents: are
you helping me or stressing me out?. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 22(2),
pp.123-136.
McLoughlin, A.B., Gould, M.S. and Malone, K.M., 2015. Global trends in teenage suicide: 2003–
2014. QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, 108(10), pp.765-780.
Mojtabai, R., Chen, L.Y., Kaufmann, C.N. and Crum, R.M., 2014. Comparing barriers to mental
health treatment and substance use disorder treatment among individuals with comorbid major
depression and substance use disorders. Journal of substance abuse treatment, 46(2), pp.268-
273.
Mustaffa, S., Aziz, R., Mahmood, M.N. and Shuib, S., 2014. Depression and suicidal ideation
among university students. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 116, pp.4205-4208.
Ruble, A.E., Leon, P.J., Gilley-Hensley, L., Hess, S.G. and Swartz, K.L., 2013. Depression
knowledge in high school students: Effectiveness of the adolescent depression awareness
program. Journal of affective disorders, 150(3), pp.1025-1030.
World Health Organization, 2017. Depression and other common mental disorders: global health
estimates.
Criterion 3:
Analysis of impact of educational gap undertaken 200-300 words 25%
In accordance to the statistical report published by the World Health Organization, it was
seen that approximately 300 million individuals are affected with depression with the
prevalence being extremely high in the age group of 10 to 19 years (World Health
Organization 2017). This clearly indicates the seriousness of the problem. Further, the
major reasons accounting for depression was identified to be rejection, failure and
bullying. Further, it should also be noted that discrimination and bullying was also
identified as one of the reasons that led to depression especially among the immigrant
students (Bowes et al. 2015). The major educational gap that was identified was the lack
of education and awareness about depression in the adolescent stage. The impact of lack
of awareness was studied to elicit peer attitudes of discrimination, stereotyping and
bullying. Further, stigmatization of the issue resulted in poor access to support services.
Further, because of the lack of emotional or social support increased dependence on
substance-abuse, suicidal-ideation and self-harm behaviour was common among
depressed individuals (Cairns et al. 2014). Typically, studies revealed a poor access to
support services (Bertha and Balazs 2013). The contributing reasons being the
stereotypical perspective of the society towards mental health issues. Further, social
stigma underestimating the importance of mental health was also identified as a primary
reason that led to hesitation among young students to seek professional support (Acun-

Kapikaran et al. 2014). Therefore, it should be stated that increasing awareness among
mentors and parents about the importance of indentifying the initial symptoms of
depression such as social isolation, abnormality in eating and sleeping pattern and low
self-esteem or confidence along with self-harm behaviour can help in ensuring availing
immediate relief (Ruble et al. 2013). Further, it would also help in developing a better
understanding about the nature of depression among teenagers.
Criterion 4:
Target audience for education tool clearly identified 100 words 14%
The target audience that has been identified for this project are the Australian adolescent
students who belong to the age group of 10 to 19 years and are affected with depression.
The rationale for the choice of the mentioned target audience involves the increased
prevalence of depression within this age group in accordance to the findings collected
from the research studies that has been discussed in the previous sections. On the basis
of the findings of the research studies, it can be commented that mental health is largely
perceived as a stigma within the society and this serves as a major barrier for the young
students to access relevant support services that are available.
Specific inclusion criteria:
 Australian adolescent students between the age group of 10 to 19 years
 Students who have self-reported incidents of bullying and discrimination in school
and are confessed to be depressed
Criterion 5:
Provides clear details of proposed education tool 250 words 30%
As has already been discussed in the previous sections of the paper, social stigma serves
as one of the major obstacles that hinders the access to support services (Mojtabai et al.
2014). Teenagers encounter emotional insecurities and often feel that their concern
would not be understood and therefore refrain themselves from accessing support
services. In this regard it should be mentioned that inclusion of counselling session would
serve as an appropriate education tool to provide relief to the young students from
depression. According to Ruble et al. (2013), counselling involves one on one session that
makes use f semi-structured interviews to gather in-depth response from interviewees.
The interview session helps in critically forming an idea about the mental health status
and accordingly devises an intervention to provide relief to the affected individual. In
addition to this, it would also help in investigating the underlying causes that serve as
major barriers to access support services and seek assistance from professionals. Also, it
would help in the process of identifying and understanding the problems that has led to
the development of the disorder. Further, it should also be noted that including mentors
and parents into the counselling session would help in making them aware about the
seriousness of the condition and its associated repercussions on the confidence and self-
esteem of the students (Akun-Kapikaran et al. 2014). Further, imparting knowledge about
techniques to motivate students and encourage them to seek professional assistance
would help in tackling the present scenario to an impressive extent.
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