Evaluation of NewAccess Program: Belong

2 Oct

Client: Belong

Status: Completed in October 2018

Background:

NewAccess is a national low intensity mental health early intervention program developed and licensed by beyondblue. The service is based on low-intensity behavioural therapy, a form of evidence-based psychotherapy that uses trained coaches to guide clients through a series of structured resources to address mental health issues identified by the person.

Approach

Delivered from Belong’s Acacia Ridge Community Centre, the NewAccess program focuses on CALD population groups in South Brisbane to cater for the significant cultural diversity observed across the area. Beacon Strategies leveraged NewAccess staff expertise in combination with our capabilities in effective planning, project management and evaluation design. The evaluation explored the following key aspects:

Does NewAccess deliver positive outcomes for the CALD population in the Brisbane South PHN catchment area?
Which particular CALD sub-populations have engaged with the service, and how has it met their cultural needs?
Could the model of LiCBT for CALD populations could be scaled and applied to other PHN areas?

Photo: Melissa Ram (Senior Consultant) and Lilian Tamas (Associate Consultant) visiting Belong’s Acacia Ridge Community Centre to interview NewAccess participants.

Outcomes

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the NewAccess program as delivered by Belong across the Brisbane South Primary Health Network (PHN) region. The program is targeted at adults from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds at risk of or experiencing mild anxiety or depression. The evaluation assessed the program outcomes against specific criteria to determine overall program performance. The project aimed to achieve the following objectives:

Increased understanding of the factors that underpin the successful delivery of the NewAccess model within a CALD population setting
Increased understanding of the outcomes of the NewAccess program as delivered by Belong
Increased visibility of opportunities to strengthen future program delivery
Improved data collection, monitoring and evaluation processes established for future program delivery

Evaluation findings were presented back to Belong, with the view for broad dissemination across the Brisbane South PHN and beyond.

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