There are several ways to gain insights into the level of psychological distress in the community and monitor trends over time. Australia wide, just under 63% of people who died by suicide in 2021 had a recorded mental and behavioural disorder as an associated cause of death (ABS 2022a). (2022) note that this is likely to be an underestimate. Data from the Queensland Suicide Register for 2016–2018 based on police and coroners reports, show that 53% of people who died from suicide reportedly had a mental health condition (Leske et al. This is important, as there is an association between mental health issues and deaths by suicide. As a result, instruments such as K10 and K6 can be used in representative sample surveys as a broad indicator of the level of these disorders in the Australian population (Slade, Grove & Burgess 2011). There is an association between high levels of psychological distress and serious mental health disorders. The Kessler 6 Scale is an abbreviated version of K10. The K10 questionnaire was developed to yield a global measure of psychological distress, based on questions about people’s level of nervousness, agitation, psychological fatigue and depression in the past 4 weeks. Psychological distress is commonly measured using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale-10 items (K10). However, given a range of survey data indicate that the average level of psychological distress rose in Australia in 20 from pre-pandemic levels (see psychological distress below), increased demand for mental health-related services and crisis and support organisations is almost certainly indicative of an increase in the need for mental health support and assistance as a result of the pandemic. The extent to which this increase in demand has been driven by a rise in psychological distress (rather than an increase in people seeking assistance for other reasons, such as loneliness or concern about contracting COVID-19) is unclear. These data show that since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, overall, there has been a substantial increase in the use of crisis and support organisations (as measured by the number of calls or other contacts, such as webchat or email) and mental health-related services (as measured by MBS and PBS claims processed). Increased demand for mental health services and crisis and support organisations between 20 The most current data are available at Mental health services in Australia. These data are shared within government to inform the mental health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS), Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), and crisis and support organisations (Lifeline, Beyond Blue, Kids Helpline) were collected weekly in 2020, fortnightly in 2021 and monthly in 2022. This reporting commenced as part of the National Suicide and Self-harm Monitoring Project. Since April 2020, the AIHW has compiled and reported mental health-related data.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |