Is headspace making a difference to young people’s lives?

4. Outcomes of headspace Clients
Characteristics
Country
of birth
Aboriginal
or Torres
Strait
Islander
CS
improve
RS
improve
Insig
improve
no
change
Insig
decline
RS
decline
CS
decline
N=3,455 N=2,453 N=6,325 N=7,477 N=3,891 N=1,274 N=1,183 N=26,058
% % % % % % % %
Australia 93.5 92.1 93.1 92.7 93.3 93.6 93.7 93
Overseas 6.5 7.9 6.9 7.3 6.7 6.4 6.3 7
Yes, Aboriginal 6.1 6.6 6 5.6 6.7 8.5 7.2 6.2
Yes, Torres Strait
Islander
0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.3
Yes, Both 0.2 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.5 0 0.3
No 93.4 92.6 93.4 93.7 92.7 90.7 92.6 93.1
Total
Language
other than
English
Culturally
and
Linguistically
Diverse
Security
of living
arrangements
Participation
No, English Only 94 92.3 94.1 93.7 93.1 95 93.6 93.7
Yes 6 7.7 5.9 6.3 6.9 5 6.4 6.3
English Lang &
AUS Born
Other Lang & AUS
Born
English Lang &
Overseas Born
89.5 87.2 89.1 88.5 88.4 89.6 89.6 88.7
4 4.9 4 4.2 4.8 4.1 4.1 4.3
4.5 5 5 5.2 4.7 5.4 4 4.9
Other Lang &
oversea Born
2 2.8 1.9 2.1 2 1 2.3 2.1
Secure 89.7 86 90.5 90.7 90.4 87.2 93.3 90
Homeless/insecure
housing 10.3 14 9.5 9.3 9.6 12.8 6.7 10
Studying only 49.3 48.9 48.6 49.4 51.8 52.1 49.9 49.7
Working only 10.1 9.5 10.8 9.9 9.5 7.9 11.4 10
Studying and
working
Not studying or
working
Source: Authors calculations from hCSA data.
22.5 21.4 22.9 21.8 21.2 20.4 21.5 21.9
18.2 20.3 17.7 18.9 17.4 19.6 17.3 18.4
Table 4.3 shows a more detailed analysis of differences in the pattern of improvement in
psychological distress between males and females in headspace, as measured by the change in K10
score by age. The calculations again relate to the change in K10 between the first and last visit to
headspace.
The analysis shows that young women aged 14 and under, or 15 to 17, have relatively high
psychological distress on entry into headspace, with average K10 scores of 28 points at 14 and
under, and rising to 30.5 for those aged 15 to 17. The proportion of young women aged 14 and under
who improve clinically over the course of their engagement in headspace is 10.9%, with a further
7.9% showing a reliably significant improvement.
Males in younger age categories typically have lower presenting levels of psychological distress (K10
scores) on entry to headspace compared to young women of the same age. For example, young men
aged 14 have a mean K10 score of 22.5, which is 5.5 percentage points lower than the K10 score
for young women in the same cohort. K10 scores are 26.1 on average for young men aged 15 to 17,
some 4.4 percentage points lower than for young women of the same age. The change in K10 is also
a little stronger for younger men over their time in headspace (between 2.2 and 2.5 points reduction)
than for younger women (who reduce by between 1.8 and 2.1 points).
Social Policy Research Centre 2015
headspace Evaluation Final Report
45