ArticleBMC health services research2023
A scoping review of the barriers and facilitators to accessing and utilising mental health services across regional, rural, and remote Australia.
Article in BMC health services research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Factors Influencing the Initiation and Continued Engagement of Digital Mental Health Tools Among Adults: Theory of Planned Behavior-Informed Systematic Review.JMIR mental health · 2026Pooled it
- Dietary E-Health Interventions for Adults With Severe Mental Illness: A Systematic Review.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2025Pooled it
- Swedish massage as an adjunct approach to Help suppOrt individuals Pregnant after Experiencing a prior Stillbirth (HOPES): feasibility and acceptability findings from a convergent parallel mixed-methods single-arm trial.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Understanding patient barriers and enablers to accessing community resources: a qualitative study to inform navigation service delivery.BMC primary care · 2025Trial
- Co-Designing Wellbeing Initiatives With Rural Adolescents: What Works, What Doesn't, and Why.Health promotion journal of Australia : official journal of Australian Association of Health Promotion Professionals · 2026Article
- Geospatial clustering of suicide, mental health, sociodemographic and workforce features in Australia.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Adapting a mental health program for people with multiple myeloma and smouldering myeloma: a consumer-informed feasibility study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Understanding barriers to systems change among regional Western Australian food security initiative leaders.Health promotion international · 2026Article
- Laying the Foundations for Co-Design: A Micro-Community Engagement Approach to Patient and Public Involvement in Rural Health Research.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- Exploring Competencies and Skills of Australian Rural Psychologists.The Australian journal of rural health · 2026Article
- Growing Up Rural: Rurality as a Predictor of Child Mental Health in an Australian Cohort.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Article
- Medical artificial intelligence and the right to health.BMC medical ethics · 2026Article
- A Preventive Social Media Intervention for Perinatal Depression and Anxiety in Regional, Rural, and Remote Communities: Participatory Co-Design Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Paramedics: A Missing Workforce in Australia's Mental Health System.The Australian journal of rural health · 2026Article
- Shifting the narrative from 'what's wrong?' to 'what's strong?' MIND-MAP: A qualitative study exploring positive mental health and support needs of adults with diabetes.Diabetic medicine : a journal of the British Diabetic Association · 2026Article
- How Can Community Paramedics Help in Addressing Mental Health for Vulnerable Australians?The Australian journal of rural health · 2026Article
- Prevalence and Patterns of Non-Medical Gabapentinoid Use in a General Population Sample: Findings From the Australian National Drug Strategy Household Survey.Drug and alcohol review · 2026Article
- Health services and digital technologies used for mental health among a national cross-sectional sample of young people in Australia 2020-2022: Patterns and correlates within geographic regions.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Mapping Adolescent Suicidal and Non-Suicidal Self-Injurious Behaviours Across Eastern Australia.Journal of community health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundInadequate healthcare access and utilisation are implicated in the mental health burden experienced by those living in regional, rural, and remote Australia. Facilitators that better enable access and utilisation are also reported in the literature. To date, a synthesis on both the barriers and facilitators to accessing and utilising mental health services within the rural Australian context has not been undertaken. This scoping review aims to (1) synthesise the barriers and facilitators to accessing and utilising mental health services in regional, rural, and remote Australia, as identified using the Modified Monash Model; and (2) better understand the relationship between barriers and facilitators and their geographical context.
methodsA systematic search of Medline Complete, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Scopus, and CINAHL was undertaken to identify peer-reviewed literature. Grey literature was collated from relevant websites. Study characteristics, including barriers and facilitators, and location were extracted. A descriptive synthesis of results was conducted.
resultsFifty-three articles were included in this scoping review. Prominent barriers to access and utilisation included: limited resources; system complexity and navigation; attitudinal and social matters; technological limitations; distance to services; insufficient culturally-sensitive practice; and lack of awareness. Facilitators included person-centred and collaborative care; technological facilitation; environment and ease of access; community supports; mental health literacy and culturally-sensitive practice. The variability of the included studies precluded the geographical analysis from being completed.
conclusionBoth healthcare providers and service users considered a number of barriers and facilitators to mental health service access and utilisation in the regional, rural, and remote Australian context. Barriers and facilitators should be considered when re-designing services, particularly in light of the findings and recommendations from the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System, which may be relevant to other areas of Australia. Additional research generated from rural Australia is needed to better understand the geographical context in which specific barriers and facilitators occur.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.