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Issue addressed: Wellbeing SA, an independent South Australian government agency, developed a Wellbeing Index for South Australia across a 12‐month period in 2021–2022 to enable the measurement of wellbeing outcomes for the state. Methods: The development of the Index was a methodical process based on two key emphases—evidence‐based action and working in partnership. The steps included a scoping of existing wellbeing measurement frameworks and then working with a broad range of partner agencies to define the purpose, scope and structure for the Index and subsequently the content (indicators, their measures and the most robust data available). Results: A Wellbeing Index for South Australia was launched in June 2022 on the Wellbeing SA website. It is structured against domains of physical, mental, social/community, Aboriginal cultural wellbeing and the underpinning determinants of wellbeing. Conclusions: The Index communicates the importance and the breadth of wellbeing outcomes addressed by the various health promotion and policy actors in South Australia and provides a sound basis for monitoring the wellbeing of the community over time. So what?: Measuring wellbeing is identified by proponents of a Wellbeing Economy as one useful mechanism, alongside legislation, policy and funding, for shaping a broader definition of a successful society. The health promotion community, and their partners, have a role to play in promoting the importance of a broad definition of wellbeing, and in identifying robust and meaningful indicators. This paper offers other jurisdictions insights into the process used, and challenges encountered, in creating the Index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HENDERSON J, CURREN D, WALTER B, TOFFOLI L and O'KANE D. Nursing Inquiry 2011; : 55-65 Mental health care in Australia in the last 20 years has moved from stand-alone psychiatric hospitals to general hospitals and the community . This paper reports an action research project exploring the experiences of nurses on an acute mental health unit for older adults staffed with a skillmix of mental health and general nurses, which recently transitioned from a psychiatric to a general hospital. The new service provides comprehensive health care, including the management of physical co-morbidity and a recovery orientation. Recovery acknowledges the role and rights of consumers and carers in planning and management of care, choice and individual strengths (Shepherd). The new ward received additional resources to establish the model of care, including a broader skillmix. The paper explores the dynamics of development of a new model of care and of bringing together staff with different professional orientations, cultures and priorities. Focus groups and interviews were conducted with 18 staff. Analysis resulted in three themes relating to the impact of competing goals and foci of care upon professional boundaries; competing organisational cultures and the impact of service change upon work practices. The findings are explored in relation to ideas about health care delivery associated with neoliberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issue addressed: This paper examines recent Australian health reform policies and considers how the primary health care (PHC) workforce experiences subsequent change and perceives its impact on health promotion practice. Methods: Health policy documents were analysed to determine their intended impact on health promotion. Interviews were conducted with 39 respondents from four State-funded PHC services to gain their perceptions of the impact of policy change on health promotion. Results: There have been a plethora of policy and strategy documents over the last decade relevant to PHC, and these suggest an intention to strengthen health promotion. However, respondents report that changes to the role and focus of PHC services have led to fewer opportunities for health promotion. Services are struggling to engage in health promotion activity, while funding and policy directions are prioritised to targeted, individual behaviour change. Conclusion: The experience of PHC workforce respondents in South Australia suggests that, despite policy intentions, health promotion practice is much reduced. Our research suggests that rigorous evaluation of health sector reforms should be undertaken to assess both intended and unintended outcomes in terms of service quality and delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Co‐produced research holds enormous value within the health sciences. Yet, there can be a heavy focus on what research participants think, do and know; while the researcher's responsibility to explore and re/work their own knowledge or praxis tends to escape from view. This is reflected in the limited use of co‐production to explore broad structural distributions of health and risk(s). We argue this missed opportunity has the potential to unfold as what Berlant calls a 'cruel optimism', where something desirable becomes an obstacle to flourishing and/or produces harm. We explore challenges to involving lay populations meaningfully in health research amidst a neoliberal cultural landscape that tends to responsibilise people with problems they cannot solve. Methods and Findings: Drawing together principles from hermeneutic and feminist philosophy, we develop a novel methodology for co‐producing research about determinants of health and health risk (using a case study of alcohol consumption as an example) that centres on what researchers do, know and think during research: Women's Thought Collectives. Discussion: Keeping the constructed nature of social systems—because they shape ideas of value, expertise and knowledge—in view during co‐produced research illuminates the potential for cruel optimisms within it. Such reflexive awareness carves out starting points for researchers to engage with how social hierarchies might (tacitly) operate during the co‐production of knowledge. Our work has broad utility for diverse population groups and provides important considerations around the roles and responsibilities for reflexive co‐production of knowledge at all levels of health systems. Patient or Public Contribution: The development of these ideas was sparked by working with lay participants during the Women's Thought Collectives for Kristen Foley's doctoral research 2021–2023, but undertaken without their direct involvement—in accordance with the responsibilities of researchers in the reflexive co‐production of knowledge. Forthcoming publications will address the outcomes and processes of this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issue Addressed: Collaboration and partnerships across sectors are critical to the realisation of a wellbeing economy. Wellbeing SA—a government agency in South Australia—utilises a partnership mechanism under the state's public health legislation to achieve collaborative action for improved population health and wellbeing: Public Health Partner Authorities (PHPAs). Methods: The establishment and implementation of PHPAs draws strongly on the principles and practices of South Australia's Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach. This includes the utilisation of cross‐sectoral partnerships to facilitate the implementation of co‐design and co‐benefits principles to deliver policies that support improved population health and wellbeing, while simultaneously delivering other societal benefits. Partnerships also facilitate the sharing of knowledge and resources, and the creation of joint solutions to complex policy issues. Results: PHPAs have been reported to offer a valuable, evidence‐based and practical mechanism for embedding key concepts of wellbeing into the policies, practices and programs of other sectors, and provide the potential as one important tool for the formation of a wellbeing economy. Conclusions: The achievement of a wellbeing economy is dependent on collaboration within and between sectors, and through strong community engagement. Developing a joint and inclusive understanding of wellbeing and its importance as a societal goal is critical, and can only be achieved through collaborative approaches. The implementation of PHPAs in South Australia has demonstrated the importance of partnerships to address complex issues across sectors, and has identified key elements to successful partnerships. So What?: South Australia's experience in implementing PHPAs and HiAP has demonstrated how health promotion practice, policy and research that incorporate successful partnerships can support high quality, effective intersectoral collaboration for the benefit of citizens, including some lessons that may be worth considering in the development and realisation of a wellbeing economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of the South Australian Health Libraries Consortium led to the development of the SALUS project which enabled the online delivery of core health, clinical information and bibliographic databases with full-text resources across South Australian government health services. This was the first venture of Australian health librarians to create an online consortium. This article discusses the policy and management issues surrounding the implementation of the SALUS project and its influence on the evolution of the health Libraries Consortium over several years. Lessons learned during this process included; the necessity to plan well ahead yet to remain flexible in implementing those plans, to avoid procedure becoming more important than improvization during planning, to be willing to take well judged risks on occasions, and to be fully aware of changing circumstances in the project's funding and political environment. The importance of securing influential advocates outside of the participating libraries to support continued project funding is also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]