Developing Service Integration Toolkit

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescents experience a higher burden of mental illness such as anxiety, depression and substance use than other Australian adolescents; national data suggests this is increasing. Yet Indigenous adolescents under-utilise health services, engaging at more advanced stages of illness and for shorter periods. This research aims to identify and share best practices in improving Indigenous adolescents' (11-18 years) uptake of and satisfaction with services that promote mental health, with a particular focus on integrating school and health services to improve quality, provider and user satisfaction, system efficiency, equity and cost-effectiveness.

The project will:

1. Analyse the available knowledge that underpins intersectoral service integration processes and tools;
2. Measure the uptake of and satisfaction with services by Cape York and Palm Island secondary school students who attend boarding schools for their secondary education;
3. Identify the primary healthcare service models used by boarding schools, the services they provide, and strengths and weaknesses of the different models; and
4. Use the results to develop and test a Service Integration Toolkit.