The Health Service Use of Frequent Users of Telephone Helplines in a Cohort of General Practice Attendees with Depressive Symptoms

A Middleton; J Pirkis; P Chondros; B Bassilios; J Gunn

Journal article

The Health Service Use of Frequent Users of Telephone Helplines in a Cohort of General Practice Attendees with Depressive Symptoms

A Middleton, J Pirkis, P Chondros, B Bassilios, J Gunn

Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research | SPRINGER | Published : 2016

DOI: 10.1007/s10488-015-0680-7

Download PDF

Abstract

We examined the relationship between frequent use of telephone helplines and health service use over time in a cohort of 789 general practice attendees with depressive symptoms. Telephone helpline use (no use, non-frequent use, frequent use) was measured at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months and analysed using ordered logistic regression. Sixteen participants (2 %) reported frequent use of telephone helplines. Reporting frequent use was associated with visiting multiple general practitioners, using emergency services and visiting mental health specialists in the previous 3 months. Despite this pattern of service use, there was evidence that these services were not meeting the needs of frequent users of t..

View full abstract

University of Melbourne Researchers

Jane Pirkis Author

Patty Chondros Author

Bridget Bassilios Author

Jane Gunn Author

Related Projects (7)

The diamond cohort study - long term outcomes of depressive

Diamond began in 2005 to follow over 500 people with depressive symptoms to document and describe the nature and course of depression and it..

IMPROVING THE EVIDENCE BASE FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION INITIATIVES

The burden of suicide persists partly because we don’t know what works and what doesn’t work in suicide prevention. Relatively little resear..

Diagnosis, Management and Outcomes of Depression in Primary care (DIAMOND) a longitudinal study

Depression is the single largest cause of disability for people in Australia. It is mainly managed in general practice, yet many people expe..

The diamond cohort study - long term outcomes of depressive symptoms in primary care

The diamond study follows what happens to almost 800 people with depressive symptoms whom attend general practice for care over 5 years of t..

The diamond cohort study- examining depressive symptoms in primary care

Depression is the single largest cause of disability for people in Australia. It is mainly managed in general practice-primary care, yet man..

The diamond cohort study - long term outcomes of depressive

Diamond began in 2005 to follow over 500 people with depressive symptoms to document and describe the nature and course of depression and it..

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EFFECTIVE RESPONSE FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF SUICIDAL IDEATION IN PRIMARY CARE FOR PATIENTS WITH DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS

This study aims to improve the identification of and response to suicidality in primary care for people with depressive symptoms. It will ut..

Grants

Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

The data used for this paper was collected as a part of the diamond study which is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (ID: 299869, 454463, 566511 and 1002908) and the Victorian Centre for Excellence in Depression and Related Disorders, an initiative between beyondblue and the State Government of Victoria. We acknowledge the 30 dedicated GPs, their patients and practice staff for making this research possible. We thank the cohort participants for their ongoing involvement in the study. Ms Middleton is the holder of a National Health and Medical Research Council PhD scholarship (ID: 1055658) and an Ian Scott PhD scholarship awarded by Australian Rotary Health. We are also grateful for feedback and support from the staff at Lifeline Foundation, particularly Mr Alan Woodward. The preparation of this manuscript including the analysis was supported by the Lifeline Foundation with funding from Servier Australia. No funding body had a role in the study design; the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; the writing of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.