Is headspace making a difference to young people’s lives?

Appendix C
In Figure C4, we examine the type of mental health issue presented with at first visit. The majority
of clients in all three groups presented with either mood or anxiety disorders. However, within
these groups, the intervention group clients are over-represented relative to the entire population.
Adjustment disorders are the third largest category of mental health issues with intervention group 2
clients slightly over-represented relative to the entire population. The distribution of the three groups
across other types of mental issues presented at first visit is relatively uniform.
Figure C4 Primary mental health issue at first visit
Source: Authors calculations from headspace intervention survey data and hCSA data.
Service Use
The type of service use for the young people within the headspace survey intervention group will
differ to the entire population observed within the hCSA data. This is because a key requirement of
entry into the survey was a minimum of two headspace occasions of service and the fact that more
than 25% of headspace clients only ever attend headspace once. This will mean that those young
people observed in the intervention survey will have higher rates of average service use, which is
a positive outcome when the intention of the evaluation is to assess the overall effectiveness of
headspace services.
In Figure C5, we consider the distribution of clients by total number of services received during the
2013-2014 financial year. Over one-quarter of all headspace clients had just a single occasion of
service, compared to around 5% among those in intervention groups 44 . Conversely, intervention
group clients are over-represented, relative to those in the entire population, among those with 4-6
and 7-10 occasions of service. Moreover, over quarter of those in intervention group 2 had 10 or
more occasions of service relative to under 15% in the entire population.
44
Note that it is likely that some young persons did have more than one occasion of service at a headspace Centre,
however, this information may not have been included due to either or both the young person and service provider not
recording the occasion of service.
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