ADF Mental Health ‘Lifecycle’ Package

As part of the Government’s 2007 election commitment, Labor’s Plan for Veterans’ Affairs, funding was allocated to implement an Australian Defence Force (ADF) and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Mental Health Lifecycle package of initiatives. The package introduced a range of strategic mental health initiatives to improve and integrate mental health across the Australian Defence Force member’s lifecycle, from recruitment, during service and transition into civilian life. 

Treatment Options for Hard to Engage Clients

The Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health was commissioned by DVA to implement a “pilot” project to trial a range of community based strategies to increase veterans' and former serving members' awareness of mental health problems and support their engagement in treatment.

PDF version of final report | RTF version of final report

Note: the report and its recommendations are informing other lifecycle projects and measures to improve mental health treatment to the veteran community.

Study into the Barriers to Rehabilitation

The Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health (ACPMH) was commissioned by DVA to conduct a feasibility study into a routine outcome measure for all DVA rehabilitation clients.

There were two phases to the study:

Phase one was to determine whether there are systematic barriers to successful rehabilitation for DVA clients.  The aim of phase one was to; increase understanding of the rehabilitation process, explore how rehabilitation outcomes are measured, examine how ‘success’ in rehabilitation is conceptualised, and identify perceived barriers to achieving successful rehabilitation outcomes.

Phase two addresses the theme of measurement of the outcomes of rehabilitation, and involved a trial of the routine adoption of an outcome measure that would be relevant in all rehabilitation cases.  The method of measuring success selected for the trial was Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS).  Under this approach, targeted goals with well-defined outcomes to be achieved within a specified time are determined for each individual.  A Life Satisfaction Measure (LSQ) was also selected to be included in the trial.

For a copy of the full report on Phase One see: A Study into the Barriers to Rehabilitation – Phase One Final Report, June 2009

For a copy of the full report: A Study into the Barriers to Rehabilitation – Phase Two – Evaluating the Feasibility of a Routine Outcomes Measure for DVA Rehabilitation Clients – Final Report, April  2011 (PDF 1.14 Mb).