Mental health, physical health and substance use among a rural Australian sample

  • Prof Brian Kelly, Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health, Centre for Brain and Mental Health Research, University of Newcastle, Australia
  • Helen Stain, Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health, Centre for Brain and Mental Health Research, University of Newcastle, Australia
  • Clare Coleman, Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health, University of Newcastle, Australia
  • David Lyle, University of Sydney, Australia
  • Lyn Fragar, Aust Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety University of Sydney, Australia
  • Jeffrey Fuller, University of Sydney, Australia
  • Mr Terry Lewin, Centre for Brain and Mental Health Research, University of Newcastle, Australia
  • Prof Vaughan Carr, Schizophrenia Research Institute, Australia
  • John Beard, New York Academy of Medicine, United States

    • Background. Nonmetropolitan regions have generally poorer levels of health, including chronic physical illnesses, suicide, injury and some forms of substance use. There is limited research investigating determinants of mental health outcomes across the diversity of rural regional and remote communities

    Aims: To investigate the determinants of mental health indices across a representative community sample from diverse rural and remote regions, individual, household and community factors.

    Method. Randomly selected adult households members (>2500 participants) were recruited across rural and remote regions of NSW. Measures of mental and physical health, substance use, health service utilization were assessed (using a two stage screening with K10 and CIDI-3.0).

    Results: Patterns of physical illness, substance and psychological symptoms will be presented, with focus on multivariate models addressing key determinants of substance use levels in this population.