Co-operation and co-morbidity: managing dual diagnosis in rural South Australia

This paper reports a small portion of the findings from a research study that explored how the use of the label 'dual diagnosis' impacts on service delivery to people with concurrent mental health and alcohol and/or other drug problems in rural South Australia. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with registered nurses from Rural Mental Health Services and Rural Drug and Alcohol Services. Using a form of discourse analysis we explored the interview data for descriptions of management of people with dual diagnosis. This paper focuses on the two positions of 'pulling together' and 'sharing resources' that we found in the data. Where the literature on management of co-morbidity usually suggests integrating services or expertise at the systemic level, this study shows that what may work best is contingent on the needs of individual clients.