Letters
Health services administration
Volume 188 - Issue 4

MJA policy on sponsored supplements

Author:  Martin B Van Der Weyden

Med J Aust 2008; 188 (4): 260-261. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2008.tb01606.x
Published online: 18 February 2008
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In reply: I welcome Dr Jureidini’s criticisms regarding the publication of the MJA supplement “Early intervention in youth mental health”.1

Dr Jureidini has two major concerns. First, a number of articles in the supplement are deemed to unilaterally advocate concepts arising from the ORYGEN–headspace program, with the suggestion that this exclusivity contravenes the MJA policy for publishing sponsored supplements. Second, he claims that the general framework of the ORYGEN–headspace program does not have the endorsement of professional bodies such as the Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP).

Eminent mental health experts reviewed the articles in the supplement and, interestingly, not one of these authorities raised the RANZCP’s misgivings. This could mean that propagation of the Faculty’s concerns in the psychiatry fraternity may be selective, or that the rationale for its position has not convinced psychiatrists at large.

Dr Jureidini’s other concern — that the supplement favoured the ORYGEN–headspace approach at the expense of other interventions, views or products — reflects the very essence of supplements. The fundamental purpose of publishing research or commentaries is to enter information into the publishing–evidence–integration cycle, wherein the dissemination of evidence or ideas is intended to promote change by influencing other researchers, health care professionals, the public and, ultimately, policymakers.

Indeed, the ORYGEN–headspace program must have influenced policymakers, as the federal government recently announced grants totalling $19 million to support the national roll-out of the headspace program, especially in rural communities.2

Even if the publication of the MJA supplement played little or no part in this political endorsement, I am content that it has, at least, fostered debate and may well play a part in improving mental health services for young Australians.

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