Face-to-face Health Service Delivery vs. Virtual Health Care Service
Question:
Discuss about the Service Delivery Models for Mental Health Care.
Mental health care diseases are one of the major issues community issue among the aboriginal tribes of Australia. From the latest statistics it is clear that depression and dementia are few of the major Mental Health Care challenges that are faced by the communities of aboriginals. There is also increased in the total number of deaths in the form of suicides that occur among the younger generation of the aboriginals (Kral 2012).
The major challenge in providing mental health care service to the aboriginals is due to the lack of proper health delivery system. There are also various kinds of risks that are involved among the aboriginal communities, which ultimately results in widespread grief and loss along with involvement of trauma. The lack of awareness among the community is also one of the major causes of lack of Mental Health care service.
The aim of the current report is to analyse the strengths and weaknesses that are associated with virtual and face to face model of health delivery system in the remote areas of aboriginal communities. The report will also highlight upon the challenges that are encountered by the mental health care workers while delivering proper mental health service to the people. Finally proper recommendations will be also provided, which will help to improve the existing professional mental Health Care delivery system. This will help to encourage more number of workers to participate in the mental health care delivery system for aboriginal residing in remote areas of Australia.
The face to face Health Service Delivery model is believed to be one of the common ways to deliver proper and efficient mental health care service to the people of the remote communities. According to Kral (2012), clients across most of the remote communities in Australia mostly preferred the face to face health delivery service, which is believed to be quite effective compared to all other modes of Healthcare delivery service. It is also important to mention that face to face Healthcare delivery is believed to be Highly Effective at the primary stage of patient recovery. With the increase in number of cases of Mental Health disease among the aboriginal communities it is essential to conduct face to face counselling. The main purpose of the counselling for mental health service providers is to understand the patient in a private and confidential setting. This can help the patient to discuss their personal issues or case of distress. The major strength of this face to face counselling according to Alston (2009), is the ability of the clients to explore various aspects of their personal life and feelings, which is possible to share freely with the mental health care counsellor. It is also possible to share bottled up feelings that includes anger, depression, and anxiety, stress other types of grief or embarrassment. Through physical face to face introduction it is possible for The Counsellor to motivate and encourage the patient to explore the opportunities of Mental Health Care treatment.
Community Development Meetings
On the other hand, according to Mohammed et al., (2016), the virtual form of mental health delivery system is gaining popularity within the indigenous tribe, who are mainly located in the extreme remote areas of Australia. The study of Kral (2012), has suggested the positive aspects of Internet counselling, which can be combined with cognitive behaviour therapy and is believed to be effective to deal with various mental health clinical issues. In spite of the several arguments visit to the positive aspects of web session counselling for mental health patient, the ease of accessibility is major advantage. It is also possible for the physically disabled patient to easily access the service of Mental Health counselling sessions. In many cases it has been reported that due to the social stigma within the aboriginal tribes, it is often not possible for the mental health patients to access the physical mental health counselling sessions (Karlin & Cross, 2014). With the popularity of web counselling sessions it is possible to eliminate the social stigmas, which is achieved through online convenience. There is also the opportunity for the mental health care therapist to provide 24 * 7 supports for the patient. The online therapy sessions are also convenient for the individuals, who are not comfortable in face to face interaction and discuss about mental health issues. Meurk et al., (2016), have added that with the help of installation of video conferencing facility among the aboriginal Tribes of Australia to provide Medical health care service will increase potentially with the advancement of technological infrastructure. According to Alston (2009), with the introduction of Technology in the mental health care system for indigenous Tribes of Australia it is possible to transform the overall model for Healthcare delivery service. This is believed to be more effective in the last 4 generation among the indigenous groups. However it is also important to consider the fact that application of Technology depends upon the manner in which each generation adopt the innovations and incorporate the same into the social practice.
Reamer (2013), has mentioned about community development through meetings that is believed to be one of the major components of Mental Health care service. With the help of community meetings it is possible for the mental health care workers to spread awareness among the population about various aspects of Mental Health disease. It is also important to consider about the fact that these types of meetings and community development are mainly possible only through face to face interaction. The main positive aspects of face to face interaction for community development meeting are due to the fact that it will be possible for the mental health patient to have the opportunity direct interaction. With face to face interaction meeting it is possible to immediately respond to all types of queries. Additional it is also possible to acquire proper feedback from the clients with direct physical interaction. It is also possible to have the opportunity to co-ordinate and collaboration for improving the communication between the mental Health Care workers and patients (Barlow 1997). These opportunities are not possible through virtual meetings or web counselling sessions.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Face-to-face Healthcare Delivery Model
On the other hand, as mentioned by Reamer (2013), it is often challenging for the mental health counsellors to conduct community development meeting sessions with larger group of population through face to face interactive method. As the mental health worker is aiming to address a large group of people, it is not possible for them to focus upon particular issues at individual level related to mental health disease. There is also the limitation of time constraints, which according to Regan (1997), can easily be overcome through video conferencing sessions.
Another important aspect that needs to be mentioned is due to the remoteness across various areas of indigenous communities, it is not possible for all professional Mental Health Care workers to have the opportunity to directly interact with the patient community. However, with adaptation of virtual meetings and interactive sessions, it is easily possible to provide education to the society of indigenous tribes about the importance of mental health care.
Mossialos et al., (2013), have mentioned about innovative Healthcare service, which is an important aspect of changing Health Care delivery service model of Australian indigenous communities. It is often believe that with the form of virtual interaction, it is easily possible to remove the social stigmas that are associated with most of the mental health diseases. One of the major drawbacks of the virtual Healthcare Service model is due to the fact that high cost is involved during the initial stage what setting up the infrastructure. There is also various types of technical problems that are associated with Internet connectivity in remote areas, which will not be the issue in case of face to face Healthcare delivery service model.
Nevertheless, McGorry et al., (2013), have mentioned about the improvement of information communication technology or ICT, which is slowly becoming popular among the areas of indigenous communities. With the help of this type of Technology it is easily possible to overcome the technical issues that are a major barrier to all types of virtual Health Care Service Delivery model. It is also believed that application of ICT can act as a major social capital investment, which will be Highly Effective for future generations of aboriginal communities.
Education program also plays a significant part in providing mental health care service to the aboriginal communities. It is important to mention in this context that high cost of recruiting staff for face to face education system, are one of the major drawbacks that can be easily overcome it with virtual education system. With the ease of Internet access, it is easily possible to provide vital education support system to the aboriginal tribes about various aspects related to mental health service. It is also possible to significantly lower the cost of Mental Health care service. On the other hand, time zone disadvantage is also believed to be the major drawback for virtual education system or interactive sessions (Lawrence et al., 2013).
Strengths and Weaknesses of Virtual Health Care Service
Overall it can be said that in order to provide the best mental health care support for the aboriginal tribes, it is important to have a combination of both face to face and virtual Healthcare delivery service model. This will make it possible to widen the scope an improvement of mental health status across various parts of the indigenous communities. It will also be effective to develop a strong and wide scope of improvement for mental health workers and the authority of health care service providers.
In order to improve the overall mental health care service system for the indigenous communities, it is important to consider the challenges that are faced by the Health Care workers. As mentioned in the earlier section, one of the major challenges of providing mental health care service to the indigenous communities is due to the remoteness of most of the areas. Hence, most of the Healthcare workers may not be willing to travel directly to the remote areas to provide physical interactive sessions with the patient. Semrau et al., (2015), have highlighted upon the language barrier, which is also one of the major challenge encountered by most of the Healthcare workers in the process of direct interaction.
Due to the social stigma among the aboriginal tribes, it is often challenging for the mental health care workers to encourage the patient to take part in face to face interactive counselling sessions. Nevertheless, with the help of virtual interaction it is easily possible to overcome this barrier as in most of the cases the mental health care patient may not feel comfortable to directly share function in physical interactive session mode.
Hall (2015), has mentioned about the significance of overcoming long distance travel, which is also a major barrier for the mental health care patient among the indigenous tribes mostly residing in the tribal areas. With the help of virtual interactive mode, it is easily possible for the mental health patient among the indigenous community to take part in awareness development program. It is also comfortable for the patient to take part in group interactive session rather than personal individual counselling. This is easily available due to the popularity of virtual training and meeting sessions.
On the other hand, the major barriers for virtual interactive session are due to the fact that due to the remoteness of areas of aboriginal communities, it is often not possible to provide the best technological infrastructure that is needed for virtual Healthcare delivery service.
Addressing Challenges in Mental Health Care Delivery System
Conclusion
In the concluding note, it can be said that in order to maximize the scope of Mental Health Care delivery service among indigenous tribe, it is important to provide both face to face and virtual Healthcare delivery service model. As there are challenges and opportunities in both form of Health Care delivery service system, it is important to overcome the drawbacks in each aspect, which is necessary to provide the best form of Mental Health Service to the indigenous communities.
Reference
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