Characterizing a population at risk of poor mental health

This assessment task requires you to describe a population group at risk of poor mental health and wellbeing and to describe predisposing and modifiable risk factors that place your chosen population at risk. Please choose one group from the following list as your target population for this task: 1. children of parents with a mental illness (COPMI), or 2. men or women in the perinatal period, or 3. first responders, or 4. people who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, or 5. people who identify as LGBTQIA, or 6. older people (aged 65+ years). You should structure this report like a short policy issue brief. Policy briefs are a real-world tool that deliver key messages in a clear and concise way to a target (often lay) audience. They can be used to convince a reader of the importance of an issue and the need for policy action through evidence-based information and recommendations. Policy briefs include a bibliography showing the references and sources of data and/or information cited. The report will have two sections: data showing the burden of poor mental health in your target population, and a description of key, modifiable risk factors that predispose this group to poor mental health. Start by providing a definition for your group to clarify the scope. The first part of your summary should then discuss the significance of the public mental health ‘problem’ for your target population. You should choose your data judiciously in order to present convincing data to your audience that this is a group requiring action. This section should include aspects such as: epidemiological trends the burden of illness for your chosen at-risk population the impact of the mental health problem on your chosen population the impact of the problem on the health system and any other elements that illustrate the significance of the health problem In the second part of the summary, drawing from available literature, you should also discuss key social, cultural, economic and behavioural factors contributing to risk of poor mental health for your focus population group. This may include Australian and/or overseas research findings, as relevant to your group. Your research will likely suggest that there are quite a number of factors that impact on the mental wellbeing of your population. It is ok to briefly name these to show your awareness, but you should ensure there is an emphasis on the most significant and potentially modifiable factors. The aim is to start to think about factors that could be modified through public health interventions. In this assessment it is preferable to describe a few factors in more depth rather than all of them superficially. Please note that this assessment task is a summary. You will need to choose your information carefully and focus on the most important data that provides evidence that your target group is of importance and that there is scope to intervene to improve their mental health.