AIMS Relative shortages of rural doctors persist. In 2008 the University of Auckland medical programme introduced a Year 5 regional and rural immersion programme, Pukawakawa, based in Northland, New Zealand (NZ). This study evaluates the early workforce outcomes of graduates of this programme. METHODS During 2013 we surveyed Auckland medical graduates who were in the 2008-2011 Pukawakawa coho...

Provision of "Focussed Psychological Strategies" by general practitioners is one component of the recent Better Outcomes in Mental Health Care (BOiMHC) initiative. The BOiMHC initiative requires GPs to undertake minimum training requirements before they may provide services under the new Medicare Benefits Schedule item number. We argue that GPs need further training and ongoing clinical interac...

OBJECTIVES To assess the practicality and validity of using the 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36) in a community-dwelling population over 65, and to obtain population scores in this age group. DESIGN Postal survey, using a questionnaire booklet containing the SF-36 and other health-related items, of all those aged 65 or over registered with 12 general practices in Sheffield. Non-respon...

That more and more of the general practitioner's time is being taken up by the demands of mental and emotional illness, has become almost a cliche of medical thinking. But what does it mean? If we try to look at the prevalence of mental illness in general practice, to ask, 'How much is "more and more"?' we find only contradictions and confusion.

This article demonstrates the treatment effectiveness of a mental health Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) in a private practice setting. Pretreatment and posttreatment symptom and clinician-rated Global Assessment of Functioning (GAP; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) scores were used to determine treatment effectiveness. Reliable change indices and clinically significant change scores ...

This issue addresses the uneasy relation between 'best practices' in educational research and the consequences that often follow from efforts to implement practices deemed best. This relation is often complicated by the social phenomenon long recognized as "unintended consequences". It is proposed that controversies in education, as well as practices advanced as best, are shaped as the conseque...

De-escalation is an important tool for preventing aggression in inpatient settings but definitions vary and there is no clear practice guideline. We aimed to identify how clinical staff define and conceptualize de-escalation, which de-escalation interventions they would use in aggressive scenarios, and their beliefs about the efficacy of de-escalation interventions. A questionnaire survey (n = ...

Older adults are expected and frequently found to report less control than younger adults. In this study, we decompose this negative relationship between age and sense of control using nested multivariable linear regression models that serially introduce sociodemographic characteristics, socioeconomic factors, health status, and subjective religiosity and religious beliefs in a sample of 1,051 ...

Schools are sometimes slow to adopt evidence-based strategies for improving the mental health outcomes of students. This study used a discrete-choice conjoint experiment to model factors influencing the decision of educators to adopt strategies for improving children's mental health outcomes. A sample of 1,010 educators made choices between hypothetical mental health practice change strategies ...