@article{ref1,
title="'Profound personal and professional impacts': a qualitative study of clinician experiences of a mental health disaster response to Australia's black summer bushfires",
journal="Australian journal of rural health",
year="2024",
author="Thomas, Margaret and Martin, Elizabeth and Isobel, Sophie",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: To explore the experiences of clinician and management stakeholders involved in a rural/metropolitan collaborative mental health disaster response to the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires in the Snowy Valleys region of southern New South Wales (NSW), Australia. SETTING: A mental health and drug health service in the Snowy Valleys region of rural NSW in collaboration with a mental health service from metropolitan Sydney, NSW. PARTICIPANTS: Mental health clinicians and managers from a rural health district (n = 6) and a metropolitan health district (n = 8) involved in a collaborative disaster response to the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfire disaster in the Snowy Valleys region of southern NSW, Australia. <br><br>DESIGN: An interpretive qualitative study design using semi-structured individual interviews, with transcripts analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. <br><br>RESULTS: Thematic findings on participant experiences are presented under three organising constructs of before (stepping up and jumping right in), during (finding a rhythm of working together), and after (profound personal and professional impacts) the mental health disaster response. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Participant experiences had shared and distinct components before, during and after the mental health disaster response, culminating in profound personal and professional impacts. <br><br>FINDINGS highlight positive aspects and challenges for clinicians participating in a rural/metropolitan collaborative mental health disaster response. The findings of this study contribute new knowledge about experiences of mental health clinicians participating in a disaster response after bushfires, from dual perspectives of members of a bushfire-affected community and those responding from outside a bushfire-affected community, which may inform ongoing planning of responses to disaster in Australia.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1038-5282",
doi="10.1111/ajr.13163",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ajr.13163"
}