The Evaluation of a Brief Mental Health Therapy Initiative in Primary Care: Is There a Role for Psychologists?

It is estimated that approximately 17% of the New Zealand population has a mild or moderate mental health problem. However, New Zealand's public mental health services are largely designed and resourced to provide for only the most severe mental health problems, leaving those with mild and moderate mental health concerns to fend for themselves or rely on services available at the primary care level. The core focus of the evaluation reported here is the collection of intake/outcome and other associated data with a subset of patients who used a local brief therapy service for adults with mild/moderate psychological problems. Completed intake and outcome Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18) questionnaires were available from 90 patients undertaking brief therapies. The average scores on the Somatic, Depression, Anxiety and Global Severity Indices of the BSI-18 had improved significantly by the end of treatment, a result corroborated by therapist ratings and feedback from service users. Summary data from this evaluation are discussed in light of growing calls for improvement and innovation within primary care mental health services. Some of the issues associated with the application of psychology within this setting are considered, both from the perspective of changes to the way services could be delivered and the implications for changes to the training of applied psychologists.