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Empowering Families: Policy, Training, and Research Issues in Promoting Family Mental Health in Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2014

Matthew R Sanders  and
Sarah B Duncan
Matthew R Sanders*
Affiliation:
Behaviour Research and Therapy Centre, University of Queensland
Sarah B Duncan
Affiliation:
Behaviour Research and Therapy Centre, University of Queensland
*
Department of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072
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Abstract

Many of Australia's most serious and distressing mental health problems are related to the breakdown of traditional family support structures. Regardless of age, people who live in families with high levels of interpersonal conflict, violence, poor communication and inadequate care are at increased risk for a variety of mental health problems. This paper summarises the main recommendations of a scientific advisory committee on families and mental health, which prepared the Healthy Families, Healthy Nation: Strategies for Promoting Family Mental Health in Australia (Sanders, 1995). The paper argues for the importance of better utilisation of existing knowledge concerning family support and intervention programs and for the importance of a preventive focus in the provision of family oriented mental health services. We also highlight some of the unresolved issues that should become a focus of future research.

Type
Research Article
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , June 1995 , pp. 109 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1995

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References

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