Sharon Lawn

• BA, DipEd, MSW, PhD
• Professor (Full) at Flinders University

A central feature of recovery-based practice for people with mental illness is that they are able to exercise rights and experience membership of a community. This notion of citizenship is especially important when someone has had rights removed after being committed under mental health legislation. The right to vote is a central marker of citizens...

Disempowering experiences of military service and transition for women veterans exist within an established, dominant, masculinised culture, in which their presence is highly visible, challenged, and often subject to institutional prejudice. Sexual abuse of women in the military, in particular, is a persistent finding in contemporary international...

Background The use of compulsory community treatment (CCT) in Australia is some of the highest worldwide despite limited evidence of effectiveness. Even within Australia, use varies widely across jurisdictions despite general similarities in legislation and health services. However, there is much less information on whether variation occurs within...

Aim To test the effectiveness of an organisational change intervention aimed at increasing the offer of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) in community managed mental health organisations. Design A pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial with cluster as the unit of randomisation and six‐ and nine‐month follow‐up from baseline. Setting Twelv...

Objectives: General practice plays an important role in delivering and supporting mental health care within communities, particularly for those living in rural areas where access to specialised support is limited. This study sought to understand the barriers and facilitators to providing mental health care in rural Australian general practices. Met...

Background The Australian Liver FaIlurE (ALFIE) trial, a multicentre, randomised controlled trial, assessed the efficacy of a nurse-coordinated model of care to reduce liver-related emergency admissions (LREAs) in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. The model of care was delivered by a specialist nurse, including intensive postdischarge monitori...

Consumers with BPD lived experiences of structural stigma in MHS access in the context of Australian health systems: Associated anxiety and stigma

This paper describes the development and validation of the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Assessment Scale for Emergency Services (PASES). The PASES was developed to address the needs of Australia's first National Mental Health and Wellbeing Study of Police and Emergency Services, Answering the Call (AtC) which covered Police, Ambulance, Fire and R...

Background Protecting doctors’ mental health has typically focused on individuals, rather than addressing organisational and structural-level factors in the work environment. Objectives This study uses the socioecological model (SEM) to illuminate and explore how these broader factors inform the mental health of individual doctors. Design Semi-st...

Background General practice is pivotal in delivering mental health care within communities, yet the attitudes and professional factors influencing this provision remain underexplored. This study seeks to understand the perspective of general practice staff around the professional factors that influence the provision of primary mental health care....

Background The military is a male-dominated environment and culture in which women veterans can experience significant institutional prejudice. Transition can be confusing and isolating for women veterans. Group programs are an important source of transition support. However, we know little about the specific group program needs of women veterans....

The harms accompanying disordered gambling are well documented. Additionally, there is growing attention to the harms that arise from people who gamble heavily but do not meet the criteria for a gambling disorder. Accordingly, there has been an increasing interest in the effectiveness of consumer protection tools for consumers of gambling products....

Serving in the military can have significant impacts on the mental health of veterans and their families. Military personnel can be exposed to a range of physical stressors, psychological trauma, risky lifestyle factors, a regimented military culture, and inadequate support when transitioning out of service. This article reviews research on interve...

Objective: People with mental health conditions have high rates of chronic physical diseases, partially attributable to lifestyle risks factors. This study examined risk prevalence among community mental health service clients, their readiness and confidence to change, and associations with participant characteristics. Methods: Cross-sectional s...

This article focuses on the narratives that circulate about borderline personality disorder (BPD) in health-care settings in Australia and the effects such narratives can have on how people practice and seek out care. People with a BPD diagnosis frequently access health-care services, often encountering stigma and discrimination. Drawing on narrati...

Background The demand for mental health services in Australia is substantial and has grown beyond the capacity of the current workforce. As a result, it is currently difficult for many to access secondary healthcare providers. Within the secondary healthcare sector, however, peer workers who have lived experience of managing mental health condition...

Women’s experiences of military service and transition occur within a highly dominant masculinized culture. The vast majority of research on military veterans reflects men’s experiences and needs. Women veterans’ experiences, and therefore their transition support needs, are largely invisible. This study sought to understand the role and impact of...

LAY SUMMARY Families offer vital mental health and well-being support to Veterans and public safety personnel. This study offers a model of how families can experience moral distress from service cultures that exclude them, leaving families stuck, exacerbating a sense of moral distress resulting from perceived organizational betrayal felt in the co...

Introduction The opinions of service users and carers are crucial to identifying ways to innovate and implement system change. This study aims to explore the views and experiences of service users and carerson the services they have used for their mental health challenges and their suggestions for service reform. Methods Twenty participants (15 ca...

Introduction: While many service users have co-existing physical and mental health concerns, health professionals can tend to approach clients only through their single professional focus. This does not match service users lived experience of the dynamic relationship between physical, social and emotional health. ‘Diagnostic overshadowing’ refers t...

Background, research problem & context: Globally, it is well recorded that adults with severe mental illness (SMI) die 10-20 years earlier than the general population, with cardiovascular disease being recorded as the key contributor to this health inequity. To address this health gap, the Flinders Chronic Condition Self-Management Program (will be...

Purpose Cancer survivorship in Australia continues to increase due to new methods for early detection and treatment. Cancer survivors face challenges in the survivorship phase and require ongoing support. A telephone-delivered cancer survivorship program (CSP), including health and mental health coaches, was developed, piloted, and evaluated in Eas...

Over the past decade, greater emphasis has been placed on the role of the land-based gambling industry to respond to problem gambling behaviour in their venues. Despite this, there is a lack of clear information advising best practice responses by gambling venue employees. This article reviews strategies, practices, and policies employed by land-ba...

Background Many people with mental illnesses remain isolated, chained, and inside cages, called Pasung in Indonesia. Despite numerous policies introduced to eradicate Pasung, Indonesia has made slow progress in decreasing this practice. This policy analysis examined existing policies, plans and initiatives in Indonesia targeted at eradicating Pasun...

Purpose Breast cancer survivors experience significant burden from comorbid chronic conditions, but little is known about how well these conditions are managed. We conducted a national survey of Australian breast cancer survivors to examine the burden of chronic conditions, their impact and care alignment with the principles of chronic condition ma...

Men are less likely to utilize health care services compared with women. When it comes to mental health, men have been reported to hold more reluctant attitudes toward engaging with mental health services. Current studies have predominantly been quantitative and focused on understanding effective strategies to promote men's engagement and why men m...

Background: Families play a critical role in supporting currently serving and transitioned veterans' wellbeing and help-seeking for mental health concerns; however, little is known about families' experiences. Aims: This study used Australian national survey linked-data (n = 1217) from families (Family Wellbeing Study-FWS) and veterans (Mental H...

As demands on healthcare systems around the world increase in quantity and complexity, interprofessional practice (IPP) has been promoted to address such needs (Teodorczuk et al 2016). The understanding however of how large tertiary health care services implement or encourage adoption of IPP remains unclear. This study reports the perspectives of m...

Background There is growing interest in the use of routine outcome measures (ROM) in mental health services worldwide. Australia has been at the forefront of introducing ROM in public mental health services, with the aim of improving services and consumer outcomes. Methods An in-depth policy and document analysis was conducted using Carol Bacchi’s...

Objectives The primary objectives of these international guidelines were to provide a global audience of clinicians with (a) a series of evidence-based recommendations for the provision of lifestyle-based mental health care in clinical practice for adults with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and (b) a series of implementation considerations that ma...

Background Self-management support is increasingly viewed as an integral part of chronic condition management in adolescence. It is well recognized that markers of chronic illness control deteriorate during adolescence. Due to the increasing prevalence of long-term chronic health conditions in childhood and improved survival rates of previously lif...

Background People with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and their carers/families continue to experience structural stigma when accessing health services. Structural stigma involves societal-level conditions, cultural norms, and organizational policies that inhibit the opportunities, resources, and wellbeing of people living with attributes th...

Purpose Psychoeducational interventions are commonly used to improve mental health among the general population; however, their application among people with complex communication needs is under explored. This scoping review aims to identify the psychoeducational interventions utilised with people with complex communication needs, any adaptations t...

Publisher: Private Mental Health Consumer Carer Network (Australia) Ltd: Marden, South Australia, Australia.

This research aimed to map evidence about system supports and gaps for Australians with psychosocial disabilities and life-limiting diagnoses. A scoping review of available policy documents, academic, and grey literature was completed to discover key characteristics of this concept and provide context around the phenomenon. Our focus was on Austral...

Equity is an important principle of health care in Australia, and redesigning health services to meet the needs of culturally marginalised groups has the potential to improve accessibility to psychotherapy. This paper describes the collaborative efforts of an ethno-specific service and a specialist treatment service to provide an evidence-informed...

Purpose: Breast cancer survivors experience significant burden from comorbid chronic conditions, but little is known about how well these conditions are managed. We conducted a national survey of Australian breast cancer survivors to examine the burden of chronic conditions, their impact, and care alignment with the principles of chronic condition...

This review aimed to examine the evidence base for the use of personal recovery facilitators [a non-psychopharmacological approach] for adults with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and other psychoses. A systematic review was conducted of reviews published in English between January 2010 and February 2022, which examined the effectiveness of PRFs to su...

The objective of this phenomenological study was to describe families' experiences of supporting veterans and emergency service first responders (ESFRs) (known also as public safety personnel) to seek help for a mental health problem. In‐depth semi‐structured open‐ended interviews were undertaken with 25 family members of Australian veterans and ES...

Objective To investigate reciprocal temporal relationships between tobacco consumption and psychological disorders for youth. Design: Review Data sources Five databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL and PsycINFO) on 26 September 2019 and updated on 11 May 2021, indexing tobacco, mental illness and longitudinal. Study selection: Methods used cons...

Background The rising prevalence of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and suicidality represents substantial health burden worldwide. People with BPD experience high rates of crisis presentations and stigma when accessing health services. Educational interventions designed to modify health practitioners’ attitudes and practice in treating peopl...

Background People with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and their carers/families continue to experience structural stigma when accessing health services. Structural stigma involves societal-level conditions, cultural norms, and organizational policies that inhibit the opportunities, resources, and wellbeing of people living with attributes th...

In every Australian jurisdiction, legislation permits mental health service providers and/or mental health tribunals to force people with mental illness to engage in treatment, under Community Treatment Orders (CTOs). Despite considerable efforts made by every Australian state and territory to meet human rights obligations under the United Nations...

Preventive care to address chronic disease risk behaviours is infrequently provided by community mental health services. In this cluster-randomised controlled trial, 12 community mental health services in 3 Local Health Districts in New South Wales, Australia, will be randomised to either an intervention group (implementing a new model of providing...

Supporting behaviour change is important in health promotion and disease prevention. Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a core behaviour change counselling skill for health professionals to support people to make and maintain behaviour changes. MI is taught across many university courses and as continuing professional development. There is a need to...

People with severe mental illness (SMI) die significantly earlier than their well counterparts, mainly due to preventable chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease (CVD). Based on the existing research, this perspective paper summarises the key contributors to CVD in people with SMI to better target the areas that require more attention to...

Purpose Work can offer a myriad of social and health benefits. Long-term sick leave can be detrimental to employers, individuals, families, and societies. The burden of long-term sick leave has motivated the development of return to work (RTW) interventions. This study sought to determine what constitutes an effective psychosocial RTW intervention,...

Mental health issues are a severe global concern with significant personal, social, and economic consequences and costs. This paper reports results of an online survey disseminated across the Australian community investigating why people with mental health issues choose particular mental health services over others, what causes them to disengage fr...

Background In many jurisdictions worldwide, individuals with a mental illness may be forced to receive care and treatment in the community. In Australia, legislation states that such care should be driven by a care plan that is recovery‐focussed. Key components in the care planning process include engagement and decision‐making about a person's sup...

A nurse-led cirrhosis clinic model for management of stable, compensated cirrhotic patients is practised in our unit since 2013, wherein these patients are reviewed every six months by specialist nurses in community clinics under remote supervision of hepatologists. We evaluated the experiences of patients and healthcare providers involved in the m...

Objective MindStep™ is an Australian low-intensity cognitive behaviour therapy (LICBT) program for individuals with mild-to-moderate symptoms of anxiety and depression. UK-produced LICBT guided self-help (GSH) materials were originally used in the MindStep™ program. In 2017, Australian LICBT GSH materials were developed to better suit Australian us...

Community treatment orders (CTOs) require individuals with a mental illness to accept treatment from mental health services. CTO legislation in South Australia states that treatment and care should be recovery-focused, although justification for use is predominantly risk-based, and care often coercive. Although CTOs are contested, individuals, fami...

Objectives: This study aimed to (1) examine the strength of the association between mental disorders/mental health problems, risk behaviours and tobacco smoking among Australian adolescents, (2) compare rates of tobacco smoking among Australian adolescents with major depressive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and/or conduct diso...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Purpose: This pilot feasibility study aimed to gain preliminary insight into the acceptability and usefulness of the FAB-PBS program for providing behavior support to families following acquired brain injury (ABI) in community settings. The FAB-PBS program is based on a Positive Behavior Support (PBS) framework and principles of Family-Centered Car...

Abstract Background Poor sleep and poor mental health go hand in hand and, together, can have an adverse impact on physical health. Given the already disproportionate physical health inequities experienced by people with a mental health condition worldwide, the need to consider and optimise sleep has been highlighted as a means of improving both ph...

Aim To assess what is known about the effectiveness of face‐to‐face self‐management programmes designed specifically for adolescents (10–19 years) with a chronic illness. Design A systematic review and synthesis without meta‐analysis (SWiM). Data sources Six international web‐based reference libraries were searched with a date range of 1946 to Ju...

Gambling is occurring in a rapidly changing landscape, with new trends and technologies affecting gambling behaviour and problem gambling across a range of populations. Gambling activity among adolescents and young people has received considerable research attention due to a high prevalence of gambling reported among these groups in recent years. D...

Background Structural stigma in health systems experienced by consumers diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a widespread phenomenon that causes major health inequities and harm for this population. Structural stigma in this context relates to institutional policies, cultural norms, and organizational practices that limit consume...

Background Pasung is the term used in Indonesia and a number of other countries for seclusion and restraint of people with mental illness in the community, usually at home by their family. While pasung has been banned because it is contrary to human rights, its practice continues to exist within the community, particularly where community mental he...

Accessible Summary What is known on the subject? • Internationally, stigma towards people with mental illness has reduced due to greater understanding, education and advocacy in the community, and more focus on recovery‐oriented care within practice guidelines. • However, many people with a diagnosis of BPD continue to experience stigma and diffi...

Background: Family members play a pivotal role in supporting cardiovascular self-management-based care of community-living adults with severe mental illness (SMI). However, little is known about what strategies caregivers employ as part of their caring roles. Aim: This paper aims to explore what caregiving strategies work (or not), why and how b...

Objective The aim of this study was to describe the current state of carer engagement and partnership in two mental health (MH) services in South Australia and the implementation of the six partnership standards in A Practical Guide to Working with Carers of People with a Mental Illness.Methods Anonymous surveys of carer experiences and clinician s...

Although the negative effects of problem gambling (PG) are well-documented in respect of gamblers themselves, less research has focused on the experiences of their partners, particularly in situations where the gambler is not help-seeking. Data were drawn from 15 in-depth interviews of partners living with a non-help-seeking problem gambler. Throug...

Radio Interview on Gambling, families and help-seeking

(1) Background: Financial harms associated with problem gambling are substantial and result in suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety and relationship damage, causing distress for problem gamblers and their families. This paper examines Electronic Gaming Machine gamblers’ frantic use of credit during episodes of gambling as a substantial public hea...

Background Structural stigma in health systems experienced by consumers diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), is a widespread phenomenon that causes health inequities and harm for this population. Structural stigma in this context relates to organisational practices, cultural norms, and institutional policies that limits consumers’...

Background Structural stigma in health systems experienced by consumers diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), is a widespread phenomenon that causes major health inequities and harm for this population. Structural stigma in this context relates to institutional policies, cultural norms and organizational practices that limits consum...

Background Structural stigma in health systems experienced by consumers diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), is a widespread phenomenon that causes major health inequities and harm for this population. Structural stigma in this context relates to institutional policies, cultural norms, and organizational practices that limits consu...

Background: High rates of mental distress, mental illness, and the associated physical effects of psychological injury experienced by ambulance personnel has been widely reported in quantitative research. However, there is limited understanding of how the nature of ambulance work contributes to this problem, the significant large toll that emergen...

h2>Background Over the past decade there has been significant focus on the mental health and wellbeing of emergency service workers in Australia, evidenced by the 2018 Senate Inquiry into the role of Commonwealth, state and territory Governments in addressing the high rates of mental health conditions experienced by first responders, emergency ser...

Background: The United Kingdom IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) approach of delivering low intensity therapies for symptoms of depression and anxiety was adapted for Australia and named NewAccess. Clinical outcomes of the service were evaluated in three sites between October 2013 and 2016. Aims: This paper describes the clinical o...

Objective: To synthesize older adults’ experiences and perceptions of goal setting and pursuit within health systems. Methods: Six databases were searched to May 2019 using a combination of MeSH and free text terms. Included papers were written in English and reported original qualitative research for participants aged 65 years and older. Participa...

Given the prevalence of fathers who experience psychological distress during the perinatal period, and the tendency of health care to consider and treat fathers as secondary figures, new attitudes and systems are needed to effectively target this population. The current review sought to investigate and report the voices of fathers of “new” children...

Introduction: Social support, particularly support from an intimate partner, is both a significant protective factor for trauma-exposed Veterans and critical for recovery in mental health, yet we know little about the experiences and support needs of their partners, particularly in the Australian context. This study examined the multidimensional na...

This study examined the multidimensional nature of experiences of being an intimate partner of an Australian veteran or emergency service first responder (ESFR) with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, inductive thematic analysis was undertaken on data collected in 2017–2018 through individual interv...

Purpose Comorbidity in breast cancer patients impacts treatment choice, toxicity, and outcomes. While comorbidity measurement tools are frequently used by researchers, little is known about their use in clinical practice. The aim of this review was to examine the use of comorbidity measurement tools in clinical practice and their role in treatment...

This paper reports a state of mind described by electronic gaming machine (EGM) problem gamblers (PGs) as the “zone”. Twenty-nine PGs engaged in focus groups and in-depth interviews. Participants described an altered state of awareness: the zone, which was highly desirable providing relief from negative emotions. PGs had difficulty recalling experi...

Introduction Motivating behavioural change during client consultations is of crucial importance across all health professions to address the growing burden of chronic conditions. Yet health professionals often lack the skills and confidence to use evidence-based counselling interventions to support clients’ behavioural change and mobilise clients’...

There have been significant changes in the gambling landscape particularly relating to gambling in the digital age. As the gambling landscape changes, regulation of gambling also needs to change. In 2018, the Office of Responsible Gambling in New South Wales, Australia, commissioned a gap analysis to inform their research objectives and priority fo...

Clinical studies of problem gamblers (PGs) highlight the role of erroneous cognitions during problematic gambling, yet little is known about the role of cognitions in the maintenance of gambling problems. Twenty-nine electronic gaming machine (EGM) PGs engaged in focus groups and in-depth interviews, with a focus on understanding the relapse proces...

Background: Smoking prevalence remains inequitably high for lower SES (socioeconomic status) populations. The psychosocial interactive model of resilience theorises that resilience might be 'switched on' in order to support and/or maintain smoking cessation for these populations. This study aimed to develop a Resilience Intervention for Smoking Ce...

Objective Measuring self-management helps identify the degree of participation of people in the management of their chronic conditions and guides clinicians in determining person-centred priorities for providing support. The Partners in Health scale, a self-report generic questionnaire, was developed to capture the self-management of patients with...

A mental health carer account of loneliness and lived experience of mental illness in their life.

Objective/s: To create a consensus list of self-management definitions, recommendations, and endpoints for children and young people (0-20 years) with chronic conditions. Methods: This study used a Delphi technique. Based on the number of relevant peer-reviewed publications, clinical academics were invited to participate in three survey rounds....

Recovery colleges are formal learning programs that aim to support people with a lived experience of mental illness. In this study, we aimed to explore the experiences of participants in a pilot recovery college that opened in Adelaide, South Australia, in 2016. A qualitative exploratory study was conducted involving interviews with learners (n = 8...

Objective: To conduct a systematic review of instruments for assessing the competency of therapists in motivational interviewing (MI) for training purposes. Methods: A search of Medline, Emcare, CINAHL, Scopus, Proquest, and Web of Science databases yielded 20,313 articles, of which 105 were included in the review. Data were summarised in terms...

Flinders Program is a self-management based intervention, currently being trialled among patients with SMI and cardiovascular risk factors in South Australia [Battersby et al., 2018]. This presentation will describe initial findings of a longitudinal qualitative investigation of the program's acceptability and feasibility, conducted alongside the q...

Please open this link: https://academic.oup.com/schizophreniabulletin/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/schbul/sbz080/