Rural mental health study in Parkes Shire

Wednesday 2 May 2007

Parkes residents are being asked to participate in a nationally funded study of health and stress in rural and remote communities across New South Wales.

The Australian Rural Mental Health Study was trialled last year in the Central West and is being rolled out in 73 Local Government Areas in the state.

The study will survey 3.600 households across rural NSW and be run in collaboration with rural health research units at Moree, Lismore and Broken Hill.

Director of the Centre, Professor Brian Kelly, said the study was the first major survey of people in rural households that was especially interested in their mental health and wellbeing.

"We will be asking about peoples' experiences, life in their community and how they have been affected by some of the pressures in rural areas," he said.

"The information we gather will help to gain a better understanding of the range of health needs of rural people and what they find is working well in their districts, including the health services they use."

Thirty households from Parkes Shire will be randomly selected from the Australian Electoral Roll and invited to participate in the study.

Information will be mailed to selected households this week and the Centre will contact those households within the next fortnight. The study will be strictly confidential and no one will be identified when reporting the findings.

The CRRMH located at Orange, is a major rural initiative of the Faculty of Health at the University of Newcastle and NSW Health.