Improving mental healthcare
Conventional approaches to evidence that prioritise randomised controlled trials appear increasingly insufficient for the evaluation of complex mental health interventions.
About the project
Rather than asking whether complex mental health interventions work, our research focuses instead on identifying if and how such interventions contribute to reshaping the health system in favourable ways.
Through use of the latest implementation science and complexity science approaches, our research seeks to unpick some of the messy complexities of real-world applications of complex interventions, with the goal of improving mental healthcare.
We heavily utilise qualitative methods, such as observation and interviews, often in combination with quantitative methods. We look at the links and disconnects of agents in a complex mental health system through novel techniques such as social network analysis.
Project lead: Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite
- Complexity science in healthcare: Aspirations, approaches, applications and accomplishments: A white paper
- When complexity science meets implementation science: a theoretical and empirical analysis of systems change
- Mental health services conceptualised as complex adaptive systems: what can be learned? International Journal of Mental Health Systems
- Implementation of e-mental health for depression and anxiety: a critical scoping review
- Assessing the quality of care for paediatric depression and anxiety in Australia: a population-based sample survey
- The Reality of Uncertainty in Mental Health Care Settings Seeking Professional Integration: A Mixed-Methods Approach
- Interprofessional collaboration in mental health settings: a social network analysis
- Effectiveness of mental health electronic medical records: an Evidence Check rapid review brokered by the Sax Institute for the NSW Ministry of Health
- Children with anxiety and depression may be at greater risk due to gaps in care
This project is being undertaken in collaboration with:
- NSW Ministry of Health
- NSW Bureau of Health Information
- NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation
- Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy.