Eleventh International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

People with mental illness experience significantly higher morbidity and mortality compared to people without. This is consistently reported as linked to increased chronic disease health risk behaviours. Community Managed Organisations (CMOs) have ongoing contact with consumers, deliver a diverse range of services, and are a potentially important setting to address health risk behaviours (smoking, nutrition, alcohol, physical activity, sleep; SNAPS) for people with mental illness. A qualitative study was conducted to: 1) explore type of support provided by CMOs to address the health risk behaviours of consumers living with a mental illness; and, 2) assess organisational and staff level barriers and facilitators to providing such support. One-on-one, semi-structured telephone interviews with standardised open-ended questions were conducted with a purposive sample of 12 senior management CMO staff, NSW, Australia. Three independent coders analysed transcribed interviews. Inductive thematic analysis was used to guide theme generation. Qualitative analysis generated three major themes, the first being types of SNAPS supports that CMOs provided. The second and third theme related to barriers (lack of funding; lack of consistency in SNAPS support provided) and facilitators (workplace culture; collaboration with available supports; staff education and training) experienced when providing SNAPS supports. Discussion: This study found that support strategies offered by CMOs differed by physical health risk behaviours, models of care and funding at service and consumer levels. Much care provided in this context is patient led, dependent on funding and inclusion of the health risk behaviours in the consumers care plans.