Supportive actions towards people with mental health problems in the community

Project Details

National surveys of Australian adults are being used to monitor the capacity of Australian adults to support people with mental health problems. These surveys use the Social Research Centre’s Life in Australia online panel to give estimates representative of the Australian population aged 18+ years.

The first survey involves over 6000 participants and asks about the actions they intended to take to support another adult with a mental health problem or in a mental health crisis. The crises covered include supporting a person who may be at risk of suicide, supporting a person who is out of contact with reality, and supporting a person whose mental health problem is having a major impact on their life but they are reluctant to seek professional help. Those who had actually provided support to someone in the past 12 months are asked about what supportive actions they took, while those who had personally had a mental health problem are asked what support they had received.

The second survey involves over 1300 participants who live or work with a child aged 5-12 years. They are asked about actions they intend to take if they have contact with a child with a mental health problem. The actions cover having a conversation with the child, having a conversation with another adult in the child’s support network, supporting a child who may be suicidal, supporting a child who has become dangerously aggressive, and supporting a child after an adverse event. Those who actually knew a child with a mental health problem in the past 12 months are also asked about what actions they took.

The findings will be used to target areas where further training of the Australian public is needed in how to provide support.