More smoke and mirrors: Fifteen further reasons to doubt the effectiveness of headspace.
Stephen R Kisely, Tarun Bastiampillai, Stephen Allison, Jeffrey Cl Looi
Author Information
Stephen R Kisely: School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; Departments of Psychiatry, Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada; Consortium of Australian-Academic Psychiatrists for Independent Policy and Research Analysis (CAPIPRA), Canberra, ACT, Australia. ORCID
Tarun Bastiampillai: Consortium of Australian-Academic Psychiatrists for Independent Poilicy Research and Analysis (CAPIPRA), Canberra, ACT, Australia; College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia; Department of Psychiatry, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia. ORCID
Stephen Allison: College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia; Consortium of Australian-Academic Psychiatrists for Independent Poilicy Research and Analysis (CAPIPRA), Canberra, ACT, Australia. ORCID
Jeffrey Cl Looi: Consortium of Australian-Academic Psychiatrists for Independent Poilicy Research and Analysis (CAPIPRA), Canberra, ACT, Australia; Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, The Australian National University School of Medicine and Psychology, Canberra Hospital, Canberra, ACT, Australia. ORCID
OBJECTIVE: Commentary on the debate concerning the effectiveness of headspace, including the most recent independent evaluation of its services. CONCLUSIONS: The available evaluations indicate that headspace does not deliver therapy of adequate duration that results in clinically significant improvement. Most evaluations have used either short-term process measures or uncontrolled satisfaction surveys, and where there have been data on outcomes using standardised instruments, findings have been disappointing. Costs are poorly quantified and probably underestimated. Even so, headspace as a primary care intervention costs twice as much as a mental health consultation by a general practitioner and, depending on the assumptions, may not be cost effective.
