Bridging the Gap: Review of Efficacy and Implementation of Physical Health Navigator Models
Tracks
Grand Ballroom 3 - In-Person Only
| Thursday, November 6, 2025 |
| 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM |
Overview
Dr Hazel Dalton, Rural Health Research Institute, Charles Sturt University
Presenter
Dr Hazel Dalton
Senior Research Fellow In Rural Public Health (Health Services)
Rural Health Research Institute, Charles Sturt University
Bridging the gap: review of efficacy and implementation of physical health navigator models
Presentation Overview
Background
People living with mental illness have significantly worse physical health outcomes and shorter life expectancy than the general population. Potentially preventable chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease and diabetes are more common and often go underdiagnosed or undertreated. Contributing factors include diagnostic overshadowing, stigma, fragmented care, and poor integration of physical health within mental health services. To address this gap an upcoming rural Australian trial aims to test a physical health care navigator model.
Introduction
To support this trial, this scoping review explores the evidence base for physical health navigator roles, including lessons for implementation to guide the development of effective, scalable, and context-sensitive physical health navigation models in Australia, including rurally.
Methods
In accordance with PRISMA guidelines, literature was systematically searched across peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed literature and analysed via Covidence. Fifty-two studies published between 2015 and 2024 were included. Research team includes lived experience.
Results
Physical health navigation positively impacts multiple domains, particularly for individuals with complex comorbidities. Several studies showed significant improvements in clinical indicators, increased primary care access and reduced emergency department use. Peer-led programs also enhanced psychosocial outcomes. Programs were most effective when navigators shared cultural, linguistic, or geographic commonality with participants, highlighting their relevance for rural and Indigenous populations.
However, implementation challenges include unclear role definitions, insufficient training and supervision structures, limited clinician buy-in, short-term funding, and lack of integration into multidisciplinary teams. Very few studies explicitly included rural populations or carers, despite their recognised importance in ongoing care coordination.
Conclusion
Physical health care navigator roles positively impact physical health outcomes, representing an underutilised strategy to close the health equity gap. For rural and remote communities, sustainable implementation of consumer-centred navigation roles could be transformative. Future research and policy should focus on co-designed models and capturing implementation lessons for standard care integration.
People living with mental illness have significantly worse physical health outcomes and shorter life expectancy than the general population. Potentially preventable chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease and diabetes are more common and often go underdiagnosed or undertreated. Contributing factors include diagnostic overshadowing, stigma, fragmented care, and poor integration of physical health within mental health services. To address this gap an upcoming rural Australian trial aims to test a physical health care navigator model.
Introduction
To support this trial, this scoping review explores the evidence base for physical health navigator roles, including lessons for implementation to guide the development of effective, scalable, and context-sensitive physical health navigation models in Australia, including rurally.
Methods
In accordance with PRISMA guidelines, literature was systematically searched across peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed literature and analysed via Covidence. Fifty-two studies published between 2015 and 2024 were included. Research team includes lived experience.
Results
Physical health navigation positively impacts multiple domains, particularly for individuals with complex comorbidities. Several studies showed significant improvements in clinical indicators, increased primary care access and reduced emergency department use. Peer-led programs also enhanced psychosocial outcomes. Programs were most effective when navigators shared cultural, linguistic, or geographic commonality with participants, highlighting their relevance for rural and Indigenous populations.
However, implementation challenges include unclear role definitions, insufficient training and supervision structures, limited clinician buy-in, short-term funding, and lack of integration into multidisciplinary teams. Very few studies explicitly included rural populations or carers, despite their recognised importance in ongoing care coordination.
Conclusion
Physical health care navigator roles positively impact physical health outcomes, representing an underutilised strategy to close the health equity gap. For rural and remote communities, sustainable implementation of consumer-centred navigation roles could be transformative. Future research and policy should focus on co-designed models and capturing implementation lessons for standard care integration.
Biography
Dr Hazel Dalton is a Senior Research Fellow of Rural Public Health, at the Rural Health Research Institute, Charles Sturt University, Orange NSW. She is currently engaged with rural place-based health services research (mixed methods and action-research approaches). She has a broad interest in rural health research including health services (policy, planning, co-design, evaluation, case studies), mental health, integrated care, health promotion, collaborative approaches to community wellbeing and suicide prevention. She is Chair of the Rural Behavioral Health Collaborative special interest group of the Global Leadership Exchange and an Adjunct Associate-Professor with the University of Canberra’s Mental Health Policy Unit.
