Critical Analysis of Major Mental Health Promotion and Illness Prevention Strategies and Approaches in Australia

Aim

According to the World Health Organisation (2018), mental health promotion involves actions that improve psychological well-being, including creating environments that support mental health. Such environments respect and protect civil, political, socio-economic, and cultural rights. Mental health promotion also involves mental illness prevention through, for example, programs that reduce risk factors for mental illness. Such risk factors can include stress, substance misuse, and violence (WHO, 2018).

The aim of Assessment Task 1 is to develop and demonstrate your knowledge of the major mental health promotion and illness prevention strategies and approaches in Australia.

Instructions

For Assessment 1, you undertake a critical analysis of major mental health promotion and illness prevention strategies and approaches in Australia, with a focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, then reflect on your learning related to your personal beliefs or perceptions.

In your written paper, you will demonstrate your understanding of mental health promotion, mental illness prevention, and early intervention strategies. You will also examine relevant national and international strategies and then analyse how the key theoretical concepts, principles, and models have been applied in an Australian context to improve the mental health outcomes of an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community. You will then critically reflect on your learning related to your personal beliefs or perceptions of the challenges for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders Peoples and communities.

Task

To complete this task, you are to:

• 1Introduce your paper, providing an overview of the content. This introduction will include an outline of the structure and aims of the paper. NOTE: It is sometimes easier to write the introduction to your paper after you have completed writing the content of the paper. (100 words)
• 2Use academic sources to explain mental health promotion and illness prevention strategies, including:
  • raising awareness of mental health issues (< 100 words)
  • improving mental health literacy (< 100 words)
  • reducing stigma and discrimination (< 100 words)
  • maximising the population's mental health and well-being (< 100 words).
• 3Appraise international and national strategic directions for mental health promotion and mental illness prevention in the context of raising awareness of mental health issues, improving mental health literacy, reducing stigma and discrimination, and maximising the population's mental health and well-being with a focus on:
  • culturally and linguistically diverse population groups in Australia (< 300 words)
  • disproportionately impacted populations in Australia, including but not limited to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (< 300 words)
• 4Examine the key theoretical concepts, principles, and models used in health promotion to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to improve their mental health and well-being as follows:
  • Use academic or government sources to identify and describe a mental health promotion and illness prevention program that has been implemented in an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples community (< 300 words).
  • Explain the key theoretical concepts, principles and model used in this example (< 300 words).
  • Discuss how this mental health promotion and illness prevention program has empowered the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples community (< 300 words).
  • Analyse the outcomes achieved from the implementation of the chosen mental health promotion and illness prevention program (< 300 words).
• 5Reflecting on your learning from academic courses, critically reflect on the following:
  • how mental health prevention and promotion programs can be designed to uphold the values, traditions, and languages of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (< 200 words)
  • how practitioners can better support, value, and advocate for the mental health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (< 200 words)
  • how your personal beliefs or perceptions and how your personal beliefs about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have been challenged by completing this assessment task (< 200 words).
• 6Provide a conclusion to your paper that syntheses the key points of the paper (100 words).

Note Carefully

If you do not pass this assessment item, you may have an opportunity to re-attempt. For teaching staff to allow a re-attempt, they must be satisfied that you have made a reasonable attempt in the assessment item. If a re-attempt is offered, you will have only 7 consecutive days to resubmit your assessment item and you can only receive a maximum of 50% of the available marks if your attempt meets the marking criteria. If your reattempt does not meet the marking criteria, you will retain your original mark. Only one reattempt will be allowed.

Literature and references

In this assessment, use at least 10 contemporary references. You may also use seminal scholarly literature where relevant. Suitable references include peer-reviewed journal articles as well as textbooks and credible websites. When sourcing information, consider the 5 elements of a quality reference: currency, authority, relevance, objectivity, and coverage. Grey literature sourced from the internet must be from the websites of reputable organisations such as governments, universities, or peak national bodies: e.g., the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australian Institute of Family Studies, Australian College of Mental Health Nursing, national and state-level Departments of Health.

Requirements

• Use a conventional and legible size 12 font, such as Times New Roman or Arial, with 1.5 line spacing and 2.54 cm page margins (standard pre-set margin in Microsoft Word).
• Include page numbers on each page in a footer.
• You may write in the first-person for the reflective component of this task and must write in the third-person perspective for all other components.
• Use formal academic language.
• Use the seventh edition American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style. The CQUniversity Academic Learning Centre has an online APA Referencing Style Guide.
• The word count excludes the reference list but includes in-text references and direct quotations.