Troubling complaint: Addressing hepatitis C-related stigma and discrimination through complaint mechanisms.

The need to grapple with hepatitis C-related stigma and discrimination in Australian health-care settings has been recognised in public policy, and work is underway to address it. But how likely are people to raise a complaint when they experience stigma or discrimination? And how effective and accessible are complaints mechanisms? Given complaint procedures are considered important parts of the delivery of safe and ethical health care, these are important questions that have yet to be substantially explored. Drawing on interviews with people with lived experience of hepatitis C (n = 30), this article considers how affected people feel about complaints processes and the act of complaining.

Stigma towards mental illness in Asian nations and low-and-middle-income countries, and comparison with high-income countries: A literature review and practice implications.

Background: Stigma related to mental illness (and its treatment) is prevalent worldwide. This stigma could be at the structural or organizational level, societal level (interpersonal stigma), and the individual level (internalized stigma). Vulnerable populations, for example, gender minorities, children, adolescents, and geriatric populations, are more prone to stigma.

Position statements of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists: An historical perspective.

Objective: To review the concept, purpose, and subjects of Position Statements of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists since their inception in 1971, and to consider changes to enhance their value.

Method: We scrutinised the procedure in producing, revising, and rescinding Position Statements, and the nature of the subjects covered.

Results: Position Statements were initiated by the College Board, various College committees and members.

Countering 'the moral science of biopolitics': Understanding hepatitis C treatment 'non-compliance' in the antiviral era.

Although new hepatitis C treatments are a vast improvement on older, interferon-based regimens, there are those who have not taken up treatment, as well as those who have begun but not completed treatment. In this article, we analyse 50 interviews conducted for an Australian research project on treatment uptake. We draw on Berlant's (2007, Critical Inquiry, 33) work on 'slow death' to analyse so-called 'non-compliant' cases, that is, those who begin but do not complete treatment or who do not take antiviral treatment as directed.

Developments in rehabilitation psychiatry within the RANZCP and the creation of a mental health rehabilitation curriculum.

Objective: This paper describes the initial development of a mental health rehabilitation curriculum for Australian mental health settings and for psychiatrists and trainees wishing to develop specialist skills in mental health rehabilitation.

Method: Members of the Section of Social Cultural and Rehabilitation Psychiatry (SSCRP) established an expert working group under the auspices of the RANZCP. Existing college training resources were reviewed, and a gap analysis was conducted to guide development of new training modules.

The Australian evidence-based clinical practice guideline for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Objective: The objective of this article was to provide an overview of the development and recommendations from the Australian evidence-based clinical practice guideline for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The guideline aims to promote accurate and timely identification and diagnosis, and optimal and consistent treatment of ADHD.

Methods: Development integrated the best available evidence with multidisciplinary clinical expertise and the preferences of those with lived experience, underpinned by the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) framework.

Not heading in the right direction: Five hundred psychiatrists' views on resourcing, demand, and workforce across New Zealand mental health services.

Objective: To explore the views of psychiatrists (including trainees) regarding the current state and future direction of specialist mental health and addictions services in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Methods: Psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists (registrars) in Aotearoa New Zealand were surveyed in August 2021. Of 879 eligible doctors, 540 participated (83% qualified and 17% trainee psychiatrists), a response rate of over 60%.

Veteran homelessness in Australia: What do we know? What has been done? What do we need to do?

Objective: We report on the extent of veteran homelessness in Australia, what has already been done to address it and what actions are recommended to further improve the response.

Conclusions: Work conducted by not-for-profit organisations and the Department of Veterans' Affairs are outlined with positive prospects for significant coordinated action to further address the situation reported.

Australian and New Zealand doctors' experiences of disciplinary notifications, investigations, proceedings and interventions relating to alleged mental health impairment: a qualitative analysis of interviews.

When poor mental health impairs a doctor's ability to safely practise medicine, poor patient outcomes can result. Medical regulators play a critical role in protecting the public from impaired doctors, by requiring monitoring and treatment. However, regulatory processes may paradoxically harm doctors, with potential adverse implications for the community.

Policy, professionalism and psychotherapy; the clinical practice guidelines' dilemma.

Objective: To review a rebuttal to widely published concerns that the Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) devalues the role of long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy as a treatment in mood disorders.

Conclusion: There is a wider context to this debate. The CPG presents the RANZCP with a dilemma about treatments, professionalism and policy; it requires amendment.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and wellbeing of refugees and asylum seekers-A Narrative Review of the Literature.

Objective: To identify the factors affecting refugees and asylum seekers mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A narrative review of available international research literature from January 2020 to June 2021 was conducted to identify these factors.

Results: Seven factors were identified: pre-existing physical health vulnerabilities, pre-existing mental health vulnerabilities, environmental, social, cultural-specific, economic and legal/welfare challenges.

The utility of the Sydney Melancholia Prototype Index (SMPI) for predicting response to electroconvulsive therapy in depression: A CARE Network study.

An enhanced understanding of clinical predictors of positive ECT outcome could assist with the decision to prescribe ECT for select patients. Reliable predictors of ECT response such as psychotic symptoms and age have been identified, however, studies of melancholia and ECT response have been inconsistent. The Sydney Melancholia Prototype Index (SMPI) is a clinical measure designed to differentiate melancholic and non-melancholic depression.

Piloting online training in the Pacific-Ophelia project for child and adolescent mental health.

Introduction: In June 2020, St Vincent's Mental Health, Fiji National University, and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry collaborated to deliver online, specialized child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) training to Pacific-based healthcare workers. This accompanying research aimed to understand the telehealth model and structures that would sustain an engaged community of practice and support the development of professional networks across the Pacific.

Method: Quantitative and qualitative feedback was analyzed to understand participation and self-rated measures of skills, knowledge, and confidence in providing health care for children and young people, as well as experiences of training, including access, engagement, and applicability of the initiative to the Pacific Islands health care organizations.

Codes of ethics for psychiatrists: past, present and prospect.

Background: Codes of ethics in medicine have an ancient tradition, extending back to the Oath of Hippocrates. Yet it was only in the early 1970s that the speciality of psychiatry developed a specific code to address the unique ethical dilemmas and complexities arising in psychiatric practice. As the 50th anniversary of the publication of psychiatry's first code of ethics approaches, it is timely to reflect on the progress, role, and impact of such codes.