Geriatric Mental Health Care in Australia: A Focus on Psychosocial Aspects
摘要
The geriatric population is rising globally, and Australia is expected to mirror this rise in the coming years, tripling its population of over 60 year olds by 2051. This projection highlights the large number of geriatric patients with mental health disorders in the future, given the high prevalence of mental health disorders in this cohort. Geriatric mental health services in Australia are public mental health services that provide access to specialist geriatric mental health care to these patients, through a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach with the Primary Health Network. Processes for referrals and triage may differ across these services, as may their setting of service delivery, i.e., inpatients vs community. Assessments, though, are similar irrespective of the setting and involve a clinical interview using a structured proforma, and administration of standardized tests, which contribute to the clinicians formulating the case using a biopsychosocial model. This biopsychosocial formulation forms the basis of a tailored person-centered, recovery-focused treatment plan, which the geriatric mental health services assist in implementing using collaboration with multiple stakeholders to deliver a particular aspect of the patient’s care. Geriatric mental health services deliver several evidence-based psychosocial interventions to improve patient outcomes, while balancing the patient’s autonomy, preferences, and wishes and empowering other service providers through education and upskilling. They have an important role in safeguarding the rights of older adults and ensure care received by them meets the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards and that the care is provided within the available legislative frameworks in the country to protect the rights of older adults, particularly the ones vulnerable due to their culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds and the Australian indigenous populations. This chapter discusses geriatric mental health care in Australia with a focus on the psychosocial aspects of geriatric mental health care.