People with lived experience must be supported to nurture their health and prevent illness.

This section of the Guideline frames the physical health care of people with lived experience of mental illness, as everyone’s business. A whole of health approach is to be taken to illness prevention and health promotion.

Effective promotion, prevention and early intervention activities help to prevent the onset or development of illness, reduce disease severity, duration and impact.

Routine and opportunistic physical health screening is a key activity.

Areas of action:

  • embed routine and opportunistic physical health screening across the whole of health care
  • offer health promoting interventions to support positive physical health outcomes
  • build health promoting cultures within services through policy and procedure.

This page provides resources to support physical health screening and assessment.

Resources

Assessment forms

My Medicines and Me Questionnaire (M3Q)
A self-report questionnaire for the assessment of psychotropic medication side effects.
Publication type: Assessment tool
Published by: Office of the Chief Psychiatrist of Western Australia, University of Western Australia

NSW Health Metabolic Monitoring Forms
The NSW Health metabolic monitoring module provides a structured format to support the monitoring of consumers identified as having, or being at risk of, metabolic syndrome.
Publication Type: Information bulletin
Produced by: NSW Health

Physical assessment of patients presenting to emergency department with a primary mental health problem
A literature review to establish current evidence relating to the physical assessment of patients with a primary mental health problem presenting to ED.
Publication type: Website and articles
Published by: Whole of Health Program, NSW Health

Clinical education

Clinician training – Keeping the Body in Mind - Linking Physical Health and Mental Health
An e-learning module for clinicians providing information on the link between physical and mental health as well as tools that will assist you to implement change in a clinical or community setting.
Publication Type: Training video
Produced by: HETI / SESLHD

Screening tools

ASSIST – Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test
An eight-item questionnaire designed to screen for substance use across a number of domains.
Publication type: Screening tool
Published by: WHO

AUDIT-C for alcohol use
Identifies at risk drinkers (such as, binge-drinking) who may not be alcohol-dependant using a three-question scoring system.
Publication type: Screening tool
Published by: Unknown

AUSDRISK tool
Australian Type 2 diabetes risk assessment tool that provides an estimate of risk of developing type 2 diabetes within five years.
Publication type: Screening tool
Published by: Australian Department of Health

Falls risk for Older People in community (FROP-Com)
Validated three-point screening tool using both subjective and objective measures.
Publication type: Screening tool
Published by: NARI

Health Improvement Profile
A one-page form to assess service user’s physical health needs. Adapted from the UK model to meet Australian public mental health service standards.
Publication Type: Article
Produced by: Victoria Mental Health Services

NEAMI Health Prompt
A physical health needs identification tool designed for a community mental health setting. AUSLAN translation also available.
Publication Type: Screening tool
Produced by: NEAMI

SIMPAQ – Simple Physical Activity Questionnaire
A five item clinical tool for assessing key elements of physical activity participation among populations at high risk of sedentary behaviours, such as mental health setting.
Publication type: Screening tool
Published by: Various

STI / HIV Testing Tool
STI/HIV Testing Tool is a resource for GPs and other clinicians to support routine comprehensive testing for sexually transmissible infections (STIs).
Publication type: Testing tool
Published by: NSW Health

STOP BANG Questionnaire
A tool that collects objective and subjective measures to screen people for obstructive sleep apnoea.
Publication Type: Screening tool
Produced by: Chung, et al.

Toolkit

Metabolic Syndrome Toolkit
A practical toolkit to support Australian mental health clinicians to manage Metabolic Syndrome: A pilot study.
Publication type: Article
Produced by: Porter and Aggar


Current as at: Wednesday 10 August 2022
Contact page owner: Mental Health