Mental Health Literacy and Education of Complementary Medicine Practitioners: A Cross-Sectional Study.
Adm Policy Ment Health
; 51(2): 217-225, 2024 03.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38236455
ABSTRACT
An estimated 42% of Australians who consult complementary medicine (CM) practitioners have a mental health diagnosis. Preparedness of CM practitioners in managing such diagnoses is currently unknown. A cross-sectional survey of 257 CM practitioners who reported caring for people with a mental health diagnosis. Practitioners' mental health literacy, educational needs, and confidence in the assessment, management, and treatment of mental health-including suicide risk-were analysed. Most (59.1%) participants had no formal qualifications in mental health and 44.3% indicated they had not completed any training in psychological therapies. Only 20% were trained in mindfulness-based techniques or goal setting. Over 50% reported their undergraduate qualification contained insufficient mental health content to prepare them for clinical practice. Over one-half had attended continuing professional education on mental health. Practitioners reported greater confidence in assessing, managing, and treating mental wellbeing over complex mental health disorders and suicide risk. These findings uncovered a deficit in the CM practitioner's surveyed mental health education. As these CM practitioners are a primary point of contact for patients with mental health diagnoses, there is a critical need to expedite skills development in this workforce to support the delivery of safe and effective primary mental health care.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Alfabetización en Salud
/
Pueblos de Australasia
Tipo de estudio:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Humans
País/Región como asunto:
Oceania
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Adm Policy Ment Health
Asunto de la revista:
PSICOLOGIA
/
SAUDE PUBLICA
/
SERVICOS DE SAUDE
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Australia