Needs Assessment for Indigenous Communities: PUBH6007

This report presents a needs assessment focused on the mental health of Indigenous communities in Australia, particularly those in rural areas and the Torres Strait Islands. It examines the target group, different types of needs, and existing programs, highlighting the disparity in mental health ser...Read More

Running head: Needs Assessment
NEEDS ASSESSMENT

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Needs Assessment
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Target group.....................................................................................................................................3
Different types of needs and needs assessment...............................................................................3
Existing programs for the target group............................................................................................4
Prioritized needs..............................................................................................................................4
Issues and recommendations...........................................................................................................5
SWOT analysis of recommended programs....................................................................................5
Program priorities and prioritized population..................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Reference List..................................................................................................................................7

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Needs Assessment
Introduction
This study has revolved around various aspects of a needs assessment in the context of
finding a service based solution for the indigenous community in Australia suffering from mental
health issues from a very long time. For that reason, the target group for the need assessment has
been discussed along with a discussion about the different kinds of needs they have regarding
their mental wellbeing. Moreover, some needs have been prioritized that will be the main focus
while coming up with the appropriate public health programs for them. Furthermore, a SWOT
analysis of the suggested services has been included in this study.
Target group
The target group for this study is the indigenous communities, especially those who live
in rural areas and the communities who live in Torres Strait Islands in Australia for several
decades. Apart from the poor physical health conditions of these communities, their mental
health issue has been one of the most neglected issues in Australia (Nasir et al. 2019). One of the
reasons behind this is that there are inadequate data regarding their needs and the real condition
of their mental health because of not considering the vastness of this population which comprises
of almost 3% of total Australian population and because of neglecting the cultural, social and
economic diversity among these indigenous communities in Australia.
Different types of needs and needs assessment
According to some reports, the overall living standard of the indigenous communities in
Australia is much lower than the general population of Australia as a result of which there is a
gap of 10 years in the context of life expectancy between the general population and these
communities (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2019). Moreover, the indigenous people living in
remote locations live under a risk of higher suicide rates, psychological stress rates and so on
(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019). Due to lack of enough mental health services
for them and lack of enough educational opportunities, very few authentic data could have been
collected that can be used in the favour of treating their mental health issues.

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Needs Assessment
On the other hand, some reports show that these communities face various disadvantages
from the other people in Australia while it is about receiving adequate public health services. So,
it can be said that their mental health needs can be analysed well by understanding the concepts
of felt needs and comparative needs. According to Bierhals et al. (2017), felt needs are those that
can be known by interacting with the people in need. Thus, various interviews and campaigns
can be held in order to get relevant information about their mental health conditions from them.
In the opinion of Bierhals et al. (2017), comparative needs allow the practitioners to compare the
needed services for the target group and the other people living in the same sociological
scenarios.
This investigation may help the practitioners to be aware of the policy and contextual
disparities regarding the indigenous people and the general population in Australia. On the other
hand, there can be various types of needs assessment such as strength based, service focused and
so on. It can be said that the service focused needs assessment can be the best option for helping
the indigenous communities to fight with their mental health issues (Stelfox & Straus, 2013).
This is because the foremost solution to address the needs of these communities is to provide
them with relevant health care services.
Existing programs for the target group
There are various public health services available for Australians such as residential care
homes, restrictive programs, support services for psychiatric diseases, community services and
so on (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019). However, there is a significant lack of
mental health services exclusively for the indigenous people in Australia. Despite the fact that a
new national program has been established in 2014 namely Indigenous Australians’ Health
Programme or IAHP, the area of mental health has not been prioritised till now (Reifels et al.
2018). However, mental health has been considered as one of the top five health priorities not
only in Australia but also worldwide (pdhpe.net, 2019).

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Needs Assessment
Prioritized needs
After going through the data regarding the rates of mentally ill people among these
indigenous communities, it can be said that stress, anxiety, depression are some of the most
alarming mental health issues found them. However, suicides rank the highest in these
communities as compared to other people living in Australia. Thus, the felt needs can be seen as
the most prioritised needs for these communities.
Issues and recommendations
The task of needs assessment comes with some unavoidable challenges. For example, a
majority of these communities live in remote areas that are hard to reach. On the other hand,
many of them are not aware of what mental wellbeing is due to various social and economic
factors such as lack of education. On the other hand, the needs assessment demands appropriate
experts and programme practitioners that cannot be provided without en increased governmental
funding and policies exclusively for the indigenous communities in Australia (Indian journal of
social psychiatry, 2019). However, the issues can be solved to an extent firstly by interviewing
these people to know more about their different cultural backgrounds and how they contribute to
their decreased mental health conditions. Moreover, services like residential mental health care,
personal mentors, counselling for young community members, more mental health hospitals in
rural and remote areas, specialised care for different types of mental illness, suicide awareness
campaigns and so on can be helpful for these people.
SWOT analysis of recommended programs
Strengths
 Identifying people with mental health
issues.
 Treating the issues with medical
interventions.
 Increased awareness regarding mental
health among the indigenous
communities.
Weaknesses
 lack of funding
 Lack of enhanced policies.
 Lack of policy makers with the
knowledge of cultural differences
among these communities.
Opportunities
 More productivity from these
communities.
Threats
 Hostile reception.
 Migration of these communities to

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 Involvement of these communities in
the mainstream workforce.
 Enhanced life expectancy and enhanced
living standards.
other countries.
 Refusing to access the services.
Table1: SWOT analysis
(Source: Created by learner)
Program priorities and prioritized population
Among the identified programs, suicide awareness campaigns can be prioritised. This is
because the suicide rates of these communities, especially of the young members are alarming
and much higher than the suicide rates of the general population in Australia. According to some
reports, the suicide rates have been drastically increased over the years. On the other hand, the
indigenous women have been identified as the prioritised population among the target group
here. The reason behind this is that these women live under much higher risks of mental illness
due to domestic assaults apart from other mental health issues such as suicide tendencies,
PTSDs, female child assaults and so on (Australian Psychological society, 2019). Thus, these
population needs to be considered to be most prioritised population.
Conclusion
This study has focused on a needs assessment for the indigenous communities in
Australia. For that reason, their needs have been categorised and identified. On the other hand,
service based needs assessment has been chosen for this scenario. It has been found that
indigenous communities face unequal mental health services that need to be equalised as soon as
possible. Indigenous women have been identified as the prioritised population that needs utmost
care at the present day scenario.

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Reference List
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2019), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People with A
Mental Health Condition, Retrieved on: 7th July, 2019,
From:https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4714.0~2014-
15~Feature%20Article~Aboriginal%20and%20Torres%20Strait%20Islander%20people
%20with%20a%20mental%20health%20condition%20(Feature%20Article)~10
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2019), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
adolescent and youth health and wellbeing 2018, Retrieved on: 7th July, 2019,
From:https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/indigenous-australians/atsi-adolescent-youth-
health-wellbeing-2018/contents/summary
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2019), Mental health services in Australia, Retrieved
on: 7th July, 2019, From:https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/mental-health-services/mental-
health-services-in-australia/report-contents/summary-of-mental-health-services-in-
australia
Australian Psychological society (2019), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and
mental health, Retrieved on: 7th July, 2019, From:
https://www.psychology.org.au/inpsych/2017/february/dudgeon
Indian journal of social psychiatry (2019), Australian aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders'
mental health issues: A litany of social causation, Retrieved on: 7th July, 2019, From:
http://www.indjsp.org/article.asp?issn=0971-
9962;year=2018;volume=34;issue=4;spage=328;epage=332;aulast=Das
Nasir, B., Toombs, M., Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan, S., Kisely, S., Gill, N., Black, E., Hayman,
N., Ranmuthugala, G., Beccaria, G., Ostini, R., & Nicholson, G., (2019), Common mental
disorders among Indigenous people living in regional, remote and metropolitan
Australia: a cross-sectional study, Retrieved on: 7th July, 2019, From:
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/6/e020196

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pdhpe.net (2019), Health Priorities in Australia, Retrieved on: 7th July, 2019, From:
https://www.pdhpe.net/health-priorities-in-australia/
Reifels, L, Nicholas, A., Fletcher, J., Bassilios, B., King, K., Ewen, S., & Pirkis, J., (2018),
Enhanced primary mental healthcare for Indigenous Australians: service implementation
strategies and perspectives of providers, Retrieved on: 7th July, 2019,
From:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5985563/ Bierhals, C. C. B. K.,
Santos, N. O. D., Fengler, F. L., Raubustt, K. D., Forbes, D. A., & Paskulin, L. M. G.
(2017). Needs of family caregivers in home care for older adults. Revista latino-
americana de enfermagem, 25. Retrieved on: 7th July, 2019, From:
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0104-11692017000100323&script=sci_arttext
Stelfox, H. T., & Straus, S. E. (2013). Measuring quality of care: considering measurement
frameworks and needs assessment to guide quality indicator development. Journal of
clinical epidemiology, 66(12), 1320-1327. Retrieved on: 7th July, 2019, From:
https://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(13)00254-0/fulltext