My Assignment Help

401369 Professional Project In Health 1 Suicide Prevention Post Hospital Care Assessment 2 Answer

401369 Professional Project in Health Spring 2020

Progress Report and Draft Proposal

Weight:25%
Type of Collaboration:Individual
Format:Word file
Length:1,500 words
Curriculum Mode:Proposal

Rationale

Large projects require detailed planning to achieve success. For this task you are required to submit the plan for your proposal (i.e. Draft Proposal) to address the wickedproblem identified by the industry expert together with a Progress Report, where you will detail what has been completed so far to achieve completion of the full proposal, which will be submitted in week 13.

Task

Students are required to work in their teams to develop a plan of action to complete the final product, that is, the solution-based proposal to address the wickedproblem. Individually, each member will submit the plan (here called Draft Proposal), which will include:

  1. An introduction to the issue to be addressed, including the current knowledge on the topic and the limits of knowledge to address the issue (i.e. short and concise literature review).
  2. Each item to be included in the full proposal, with a brief description of what will be covered in each
  3. List of milestones, including a timeline indicating when each milestone will be reached

Although students will work on the points above as a team, they will write their own draft proposals, with their own words, but based on the conversations had as a team. The items of the proposal will inevitably be the same and there will be overlap between students’ submissions - that is fine. It is important, however, that each student writes their own draft proposal, particularly the introduction, where a short literature review is essential and needs to be written individually.

The second part of this assignment is to provide a Progress Report, in which students will provide an overview of how far the team has moved towards the completion of the project. The Progress Report will include:

  1. All activities carried out so far;
  2. Tasks completed, including who completed them;
  3. Milestones reached;
  4. Challenges experienced so far, what caused them and how the team is addressing (or planning to address) them;
  5. A personal statement indicating the contribution you have made to the team and to the project, where you may improve and what is your plan moving forward to achieve the best possible outcome

Answer

ASSESSMENT 1: PROFESSIONAL PROJECT IN HEALTH 1 SUICIDE PREVENTION POST HOSPITAL CARE

Introduction 

Suicide is a recognised public health priority in Australia. In particular, the suicide deaths also with suicide attempts are more common in young women, portend risks for future suicide carry significant costs in healthcare burden and productivity losses. More importantly, the period immediately after discharge from an inpatient unit is a time when the rate of suicide risk is at greatest (Discharge and follow-up of a person at risk of suicide, 2020). For this purpose, suicide prevention planning is more important in the case of post-discharge duration. On the other hand, individual mental health problems are not only the reason of suicide because as per recent reports of USA and Greece, but the rate of suicide is also enhancing due to the risk factors like rurality, ATSI status, physical disability and exposure to abuse after post-discharge of care. In this regard, the aim of the research is to reduce the rate of suicide post the hospital care and for this purpose, the researcher is intended to introduce a mobile application for prevention of suicide in Western Sydney local health district to support future development of healthcare practices. 

Problem Statement 

Hospital treated deliberate self-harm (DSH) is very common as a repetition of DSH within 1 year of hospital admission takes place at an average portion of 15% (Stevens et al., 2019). As per the findings, the DSH is associated with a range of psychiatric issues such as the enhanced risk of suicide attempts and death. More particularly, in Australia, deliberate self-harm is accounted for around 6% of entire hospitalised injury cases during 2012-13 (Stevens et al., 2019). There are lots of public health interventions available to prevent the suicidal intentions though the most worrying fact is that, the public health interventions in Australia for preventing suicide have been largely ineffective. As per the findings, the Australian Government spent around $128 million on various suicide prevention activities, however, as per evidence, the activities are not sufficient for changes in suicidal rates (Mental Health Commission of NSW, 2018). This is the wicked problem being addressed in this study that aims to enhance suicide prevention post-hospital care through the implementation of the mobile application.

Aims and objective 

The aim of the research is to reduce the number of suicidal cases in Western Sydney LHD after being in care and thereby, introducing new mobile application for suicide prevention. 

Objective 

  • To develop existing knowledge and perception regarding the reason why suicide risk is high post-hospital discharge among the doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals
  • To reduce suicidal cases post-hospital care in Western Sydney LHD mainly among young patients
  • To introduce a new mobile application to help people to reduce suicide risk factors during care or immediately post-hospital care  

Literature Review 

Rate of suicide in Australia:

Suicide can be considered as the leading cause of death globally particularly, more common amongst the young community. In Australia, each year, more than 60,000 people make suicide attempt each year and as of 2011, around 2200 cases of suicides found in Australia and out of this, 76% were males (Lifeline, 2020). However, as per the record of 2018, around 3,046 Australians aged between 15 and 44 make suicides and this shows that the suicidal cases are rising day by day (Discharge and follow-up of a person at risk of suicide, 2020).  

Suicide Rate in Australia, 2014

Figure 1: Suicide Rate in Australia, 2014

(Source: HealthStats, 2020)

For reducing the rate of a suicidal trend, in the year of 2018, the NSW Government announced to invest $87 million towards Zero Suicide initiatives (Health NSW, 2019).

Solution-focused approach:

Suicide risk after the discharge from care is high, more particularly in the first few weeks (Psychiatric Services, 2013). Moreover, 55% of suicides takes places within a week of discharge and 49% of those people died before the first-follow-up appointment (Psychiatric Services, 2013). Thus, discharged patients, being viewed as high-risk of suicide must have immediate solution-focused approaches. Here, according to the viewpoint of Zalsman et al., (2016), follow-up of people who attempt to suicide need to be strongly supported by data and should be included in the national suicide prevention strategy.

Some of the main solution-focused approaches include 

Person-centred: Treatment options need to be provided in a personal manner through relationship-building (Itakura & Kato, 2016). 

Cognitive behavioural: provide training to the patient to prevent and identify mental health behaviour. 

Dialectical behaviour therapy: this is CBT-focused approach to understand the patient's feelings.

Thus, as per understanding, for preventing suicidal trends, it is crucial to consider the treatments that deal with people feelings in terms of people’s emotional growth. 

Leading use of a mobile application for suicide prevention

In spite of having various solution-based approaches, the immediate help during the time of crisis can be considered as very critical. According to the viewpoint of Stevens et al., (2019), those who may be experiencing suicidal ideation confront potential obstacles to help-seeking such as not perceiving the need for professional help, cost of services, lack of time or fear of stigma or disclosure. Particularly, 40% of people with suicidal ideation do not seek medical care or may not have access to healthcare services (Larsen, Nicholas, & Christensen, 2016). Here, digital interventions delivered through mobile devices may enhance access to mental health care. Moreover, mobile applications are low-cost, discrete and convenient to use and thus, the applications are suitable for delivering suicide prevention interventions with proper support and privacy during the time of crisis (Martinengo et al., 2019). 

As opined by Proudfoot et al., (2010), consumers are rapidly using mobile applications, proactively seeking various apps for managing their personal health. As per the recent data, the number of consumers using health applications on mobile and tablet apps in Australia has grown from 30% in 2016 to more than 47% in 2018 as shown in the figure (Statista, 2020). 

 Share of the consumer using health applications on mobile in Australia 2014-18

Figure 2: Share of the consumer using health applications on mobile in Australia 2014-18

(Source: Statista, 2020)

Moreover, in Australia, more than 88% population owns smartphones and the adaptation of mobile health applications tend to prevent suicide in Australia compared to other countries (Oviedo-Trespalacios et al., 2019). For people with mild-to-moderate mental health conditions using apps to monitor mental health changes are developing in NS, though, there are very few applications available that have been evaluated in clinical trials. 

The BeyondNow app delivers a low-burden method of gathering information related to mental health for patients who are at risk of suicide just been admitted to hospital or discharged in Australia (Melvin et al., 2019). Additionally, in Australia, the rate of suicide is more common nearly about four times higher for indigenous people than the non-indigenous community. Here, iBobbly is another social and emotional wellbeing self-help app for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders that allow keeping mood diary to track mental health condition and thereby, creating own personalised action plan to monitor progress (Tighe et al., 2017). 

With the enhancing ubiquity of the smartphones, the health care mobile applications encompass the potential to develop the information access and availability of evidence-based professional support. Here, BeyondNow is one of the safety planning apps that allows users to list warning signs and ways to make the environment safe from a range of suggestions. Here, as suggested by Proudfoot et al. (2010), incorporating mobile apps helps individuals to deal with the suicidal trends more effectively and thereby, enabling healthcare professionals to connect with such people more efficiently during and post medical discharge. 

Plan Description 

Formation of team 
Finalisation of contracts and planning of the project 
Identification of the need 
  • Gap analysis 
  • Statement of the problem
  • Addressing the information with supported data and analysis 
Development of goals and objectives 
  • The setting goal of the proposal
  • Dividing role and responsibilities based on capabilities and weaknesses 
Finalisation of the project activities 
Draft proposal 
Meeting for revising the proposal
Development of a complete proposal
Selecting the rationale of the project
  • Lack of immediate healthcare solution 
  • Lack of self-help awareness and information to deal with a negative environment
Deliverables 
  • Digital interventions to deal with suicidal tendencies 
  • Better access to information through a mobile application
  • Healthcare professionals get more opportunity to connect with patients during and post medical discharge 
Stakeholders 
  • Australian Human Rights Commission 
  • Australian Medical Association 
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders 
  • Others 
Development of budget outline 
  • Cost of software development 
  • Operational costs 
  • Direct and indirect costs 
Risk management 
  • Identifying risks 
  • Monitoring and evaluating risk matrix 
  • Risk mitigation strategies 
Implementation of the project plan 
  • Team formation and sharing responsibility 
  • Communication with software development communication 
  • Realistic timeframe 
Evaluation 
  • Identification of the area of improvement
  • Final submission 

Timeline and Milestones

Timeline and Milestones

DATE
MILESTONE
PLACEMENT HEIGHT and DIRECTION
ASSIGNEE
STATUS
Details 
STATUS KEY
07-07-2020
Team introduction
5
Team 
Complete
Formation of team and allocation of wicked problems
Not Started
17/07/2020
Finalisation of contracts 
-5
Team 
Complete
Finalization of team contracts, Submission of first assignment 
In Progress
18/7/2020 to 9/8/2020
Project planning
10
 
Complete
Discussion of different ideas, assigning roles, designing project preliminary timeline
Complete
21/7/2020 to 1/8/2020
Literature review 
-10

 

On Hold
Literature review part 1 
 
Ishtiaq 
Complete
Suicide case and cause data analysis

Literature review part 2
 
Ayesha 
Complete
Analysis of applications currently in use

Literature review part 3 
 
William 
Complete
Sociocultural analysis of NSW LHD

Literature review part 4 
 
Ravneet
Complete
Effectiveness of technological intervention on suicide prevention

Literature review part 5
 
Dax
Complete
Budget and barriers

13/09/2020
Proposal Draft
-15
 
Started
 
 
20/09/2020
Application design 
10
Team 
Not Started
Expenses and affordability 
 
10-10
Implementation and evaluation of plan
-10
Team 
Not Started
Accessibility of apllication, Education and awareness regarding application, Checking rating and Usage of application
 
18/10/2020
Final discussion and proposal writing
5
Team 
Not Started
Finalising findings and Writing final proposal
 
23/10/2020
Complete proposal 
-5
 
Not Started
 
 
19/10/2020
Presentation 
5
 
Not Started
 
 
02-10
Content 
 
Ravneet and ishtiaq 
Not Started
Including slides, Charts, Pictures and data
 
09-10
Presentation design
 
Dax
Not Started
PowerPoint Outline and Details
 
14/10/2020
Proofreading
 
Ayesha and William
Not Started
Correcting Errors and Reviewing the final material
 

Report on Progress 

Progress report helps to identify the tasks carried out so far and thereby, understanding the reached milestones which are helpful to track the progress of the tasks. Here, the progress report can be provided through the Gantt Chart.

Name 
Completion of tasks 
Contribution to the team 
Ravneet Kaur 
Introduction 
Reviewing the literature 
As a team member, everyone was aware of the selection of the topic. Each one of us played a crucial role in outlining the topic with critical thinking
Provided peer-reviewed journal articles to the team members to explore information related to existing apps and their effectiveness on preventing suicidal trends.  
William Seach 
Problem statement 
Aims and objective 
Proposal Description 
After thorough brainstorming, problem statement with proper justification has been developed. Moreover, Ayesha and William together design the proposal objective based on the problem statement.
Ayesha Shaheen 
Timeline
Gap identification 
Outlining the deliverables 
Sharing responsibilities 
not yet started  
Dax 
Analysis of the data 
Evaluation of the proposal 
Solution for a pitch presentation
Not yet started
Dax Rajput
Ideation of the mobile app
Management of data from gathered literature 
Not started 

Gantt Chart

Figure 3: Gantt Chart

(Source: Self-developed)

Challenges 

While completing the proposal, our team has experienced a lot of challenges towards the completion of the tasks within a pre-defined timeline.

Lack of effective communication:

Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, it becomes difficult for the team to have effective communication through the project. Hence, we have to consider virtual team communication to discuss the topic instead of face-to-face collaboration. However, due to remote collaboration, we have to use technology such as Zoom meeting to share our responsibilities and information amongst each of the team members. However, due to an unstable internet connection, we confronted an effective communication issue which sometimes restricts us to lead the right direction.

Time collapse:

Due to the lack of effective communication, we get difficulties in completing the tasks within the timeline. We used video and audio conference calls to connect with each other. Sometimes, such kind of practices leads to reduced motivation among individuals. However, we have used ongoing communication and sharing brainstorming ideas of Google docs to share information.

Self-Reflection 

Being a team member while developing the proposal, my responsibilities are of minute-maker, researcher and team-representation. For this purpose, my role was to prepare the meeting minutes to record the entire information of our communication so that, it can be possible to use the information as referrals. In this regard, during the development of this draft proposal, my responsibility was to gather peer-reviewed journal articles to prepare literature review related to suicidal trends in Australia and available mobile apps. Moreover, for healthy completion of the project, I was responsible to summarise required information for future references so that, it can be possible for my team members to analyse data effectively.  

However, due to the lack of effective communication skills, I felt a lot of difficulties during this pandemic situation. During this time, we have to communicate virtually and I felt difficulties in sharing my information with others. As my responsibility is to review the literature, my entire teamwork also delayed due to this weakness. Thus, I need to improve my effective communication skill which will help me to share information with others fluently and thereby, contributing to the successful completion of tasks within time.

Customer Testimonials