this we will consult with specialists in the field of nephrology and transplantation, and Aboriginal Health Workers and Care Coordinators working with Kimberley Renal Services.
- Incorporate this process into the patient’s usual schedule of care with the visiting RPH nephrologist. Each patient will be able to ask where he or she is in the assessment process and we will seek informed consent to include his or her details in the evaluation phase.
- Evaluate the process and make recommendations for future implementation. This will include numbers of patients assessed and waitlisted at the start and end of the CQI activity period and barriers and enablers to implementation. For patients who have consented to include their data, we will also summarise individual barriers and enablers to transplant waitlisting and patient feedback.
- Emma Griffiths
- James Stacey
- Assoc Prof Julia Marley
- Prof David Atkinson
- Johan Rosman
Social & Emotional Wellbeing
Improving mental health screening for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pregnant women and mothers of young children
This study aims to improve screening for, and contribute to addressing, mental health issues during pregnancy and the first 12 months after the birth of the baby.
The locally developed, culturally appropriate and user friendly Kimberley Mum’s Mood Scale (KMMS) was validated against clinical assessment in a sample of 91 Kimberley Aboriginal women. Kimberley regional guidelines now recommend using the KMMS to screen for anxiety and depression during the perinatal period for Aboriginal women. The next step for Kimberley health services are to increase and improve KMMS screening in pregnancy and postnatally and address identified mental health issues. Project staff will work closely with Kimberley services to find out:
- How the KMMS can best be implemented into routine practice in each service
- If, during routine use:
- The KMMS cut point of moderate still detects everyone with GP assessed clinically moderate or high severity depression and anxiety, and:
- That the management plans developed during the KMMS for those at lower risk are appropriate.
In order to meaningfully assess the above and to test for applicability in other remote regions to inform recommendations for wider use, it is important to re-evaluate the KMMS in a larger population during real world implementation. In partnership with health services and Aboriginal communities in northern Western Australia (WA) and Far North Queensland (FNQ), this study aims to:
- adapt the Kimberley Mum’s Mood Scale (KMMS) and develop locally appropriate versions for participating partners as required;
- evaluate the real-world performance of KMMS in the Kimberley and other remote regions in northern Australia; and
- evaluate the process of implementation.
Progress so far:
A protocol paper for the study has been developed in conjunction with partner health services and the investigators of the study.
Our paper ‘Risk and Resilience’ analysed 91 KMMS assessments from the validation study to identify different risk and protective factors associated with perinatal depression and anxiety. Almost all of the women had protective factors and that contributed to them not experiencing anxiety or depression despite many women experiencing significant risk factors. The most prominent protective factor was positive relationships with family members. This study highlights the importance of health professional exploring a woman’s whole context; that is, the way she experiences stress and risk and how her protective factors support her. This will help the woman and her health professional best understand and support her mental health and wellbeing. Assessing Aboriginal women’s perinatal mental health by only looking at risk is not enough.
Our paper ‘Having a quiet word’, reflects on the yarning-based consultation process we undertook with Aboriginal women in the Pilbara region of Western Australia to explore the acceptability of the KMMS as a feature of their perinatal health care. Fifteen women aged 18-42 were interviewed for the