The Peregrine Centre offers small research grants for projects focused on rural mental health practice in NSW. Here is a summary of one of the projects we have supported as part of our Small Grants scheme.
Project Team: Carla Walton (Hunter New England LHD), Anna Dunbar (Murrumbidgee LHD), Katherine McGill (HNELHD), Sharleen Gonzalez (HNELHD).
Awarded a small project grant in 2022-2023, this project aimed to evaluate a service delivery model to increase access to evidence-based treatment for consumers with a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) living in rural areas of Hunter New England Local Health District and Murrumbidgee Local Health District.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a mental illness characterised by chronic emotion dysregulation, self-injury and suicidal behaviour. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is the most efficacious treatment for BPD and is typically delivered by clinicians in a single team that are physically co-located. However, in rural areas in NSW, it has been difficult to establish or sustain DBT programs.
This project trialled a model of service delivery whereby the skills-based group therapy component of the treatment was provided by telehealth for consumers in rural areas across the District. The individual therapy component was provided by rural clinicians of the local community mental health service.
Evaluation looked at the effectiveness of this model of service delivery with a focus on how feasible, acceptable and sustainable it is.
Interested in learning more about research? You could try our Building Research Capacity workbook. You need to have a Peregrine Portal account, however sign-up is free.
