Identification of an evidence-based model for expanded DVA online mental health services

Identification of an evidence-based model for expanded DVA online mental health services

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs engaged HMA to research and design a service delivery model to guide the expansion of the DVA’s online mental health support for serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force personnel.

The Department was seeking ways to ensure online supports were of special relevance to younger veterans and aimed to promote their help-seeking behaviours. The objective of this project was to research the potential for a safe, professionally moderated online environment for serving and ex-serving ADF personnel to connect with others who understand their experiences and link to professional advice.

The purpose of this project was to examine the scope for DVA’s existing online services to further increase their responsiveness to the individualised needs of contemporary veterans.

Key tasks involved:

• review of the literature on best-practice in online mental health service provision, including consultation with DVA, consumers, peak body professionals and providers of similar online mental health services
• development of a discussion paper on proposed service design features
• a consumer survey to assess the market for proposed services
• development of a framework to evaluate the effectiveness, efficacy, efficiency, safety and quality of the interventions
• prepare a detailed service design specification, including the IT architecture, work flow and ‘use cases’.

The project commenced in July 2015 and was completed in March 2016.