Evaluation of a culturally sensitive social and emotional well-being program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate Deadly Thinking, a social and emotional well-being promotion program targeted to remote and rural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Deadly Thinking aims to improve emotional health literacy, psychological well-being and attitudes towards associated help-seeking.

Design: Participants completed pre/post-test evaluations via a brief self-report survey immediately before and after the Deadly Thinking workshop.

Setting: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in rural and regional Australia.

Participants: Data were obtained from 413 participants (69.8% female, mean age 41.6 years), of whom 70.4% identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders.

Intervention: Deadly Thinking workshops involve participant's engaging with a series of videos and facilitated group discussions with other participants related to social and emotional well-being topics relevant to individuals and communities.

Main outcome measures: Participants completed measures of psychological distress, suicidal ideation, substance use, changes in attitudes towards help-seeking and help-seeking intentions and satisfaction with the workshop. Additionally, participants in a train-the-trainer workshop rated their perceived confidence to deliver the program post-workshop.

Result: Participants reported positive perceptions of community safety and well-being and low rates of marked distress, with no significant difference between train-the-trainer and community workshop participants. Results indicated significant improvement in help-seeking intentions post-workshop and high rates of satisfaction with workshop components.

Conclusion: Initial evaluation indicates good acceptability and feasibility of delivering the Deadly Thinking program in rural and remote Indigenous communities; however, more robust evaluation of the program is warranted using controlled conditions to measure effectiveness, particularly for changing in help-seeking behaviour.

Keywords: community intervention; help-seeking; mental health; mental health promotion; rural and remote.