Two-way approaches to Indigenous mental health literacy

Abstract

This study was designed to provide important new information about relapse prevention in Indigenous 1 people with chronic mental illness. It aimed to explore Indigenous mental health promotion with Aboriginal mental health workers (AMHW) in order to develop strategies for effective mental health intervention. The research was conducted in three remote Indigenous communities in the top end of the Northern Territory with AMHW. Assessment, psycho-education, and care-planning resources were developed with local AMHW through exploration of local Indigenous perspectives of mental health promotion. Qualitative research methods and an ethnographic approach were used to elicit information, and data included key informant interviews, participant observation, music, photography and story telling. The study confirms that Indigenous people in remote communities prefer to use story telling and local language, local artwork and local music to convey health information. It also confirms that family and local practitioners are key cultural informants and that indirect, holistic and ‘two-way’ messages are preferred.