Beyond the Divide: women's experiences in rural Victorian psychiatric rehabilitation services

full article:

Beyond the Divide: Women's experiences in rural Victorian psychiatric rehabilitation services NewParadigm Press, 2004 Marg Brooks 100 pages, soft cover (A5 size) RRP A$24.00 ISBN: 0 9751656 2 3

It is always a significant pleasure for me to read the research done by health service staff, especially senior managers. For me, seeing such people do research well is so much of what academic medicine is all about. Invariably the research done is of significance and relevance.

This book is an account of Marg Brooks's research for a masters in social work degree - Marg is Director of Community Services at St Luke's which provides community mental health services in regional Victoria, Australia. The work grew from research done that explored the experiences of women using various rehabilitation services, especially home-based outreach services in the Loddon Mallee region of Victoria.

Following a useful literature review, the research findings are summarised in a series of sections in the book, and the text then closes with some sensible and useful recommendations.

Overall, this short book, is an easy and interesting read, and is a very good example of making strong research accessible.

David Wilkinson, DSc
School of Medicine
University of Queensland
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia