Katherine West Health Board Aboriginal Corporation (KWHB) at Katherine in the Northern Territory is an Aboriginal health service delivery organization directed by the Indigenous Board. The Chronic Disease Self-Management Demonstration Project (CDSM) commenced in April, 2002 at KWHB with funding from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing Sharing Health Care initiative, as one of eight demonstration projects across the country. The project is under the direction of the KWHB Board, which is made up of 18 members elected by their own communities that lie within the KWHB service sector. The full Board or the Board Executive meet routinely throughout each year and members are actively involved with the project at both community and Board levels. The project governance structure also includes a Steering Committee and the Project Management Group that meets monthly. The project is well supported by the various management and administrative sections of KWHB. In the communities, the project reports to the local health committees that have been established by KWHB with community support, and to the local CDSM committees made up of members of the target group.
In Australia greater attention is being given to health determinants, and the dominance of treatment in health policy and budgets is giving away some ground to prevention, health promotion, rehabilitation and disability management. This creates a dilemma for compensation systems: should the inclusion criteria be broadened to match the new thinking or should a narrower definition of ?disease, injury or death? be retained? This issue is explored in the context of war syndromes among veterans. While veterans experience symptoms more frequently and more severely than military and community controls, their patterns of symptoms are not unique. Current compensation and benefit programs can create iatrogenic effects. It is concluded that compensation systems should be kept as safety nets while resources are provided to improve the capacity of primary health care caregivers, community organisations and veterans with war syndromes and their families to better deal with these problems. Adapting compensation systems to promote wellness through self-management health partnerships is one way of directing resources to individuals and their families. Action research at the community level with veterans, their families, their organisations, primary health care organisations, policy makers and researchers would allow this sector to work out the best way to apply existing efficacious tools to these modern health problems.
In Australia, little research has been undertaken on the development of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) to assist with the impact of postdeployment ill-health including medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) and it has been unclear whether such a development is desired by Australian primary care practitioners. In response an empirical investigation into the perceptions and experiences of 24 medical officers from the Australian military with regard to postdeployment ill-health, medically unexplained symptoms, and the potential development of CPGs in this area was undertaken. The analysis suggests that although MUS are accepted as common in general practice they are not perceived by practitioners to be as prevalent in the Australian Defense Forces. Although the medical officers do not perceive clinical practice guidelines as the best tool for managing MUS, there was interest in the development of practical tools to assist in the diagnosis of medically unexplained symptoms. The response by practitioners is of critical importance for the potential implementation of clinical practice guidelines in this area.
Book reviewed in this article: People Without Government. An Anthropology of Anarchism. By Harold Barclay The Anarchists of Casas Viejas. By Jerome R. Mintz Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences. Essays on Language, Action and Interpretation. By Paul Ricoeur. Edited, translated and introduced by John B. Thompson The Anthropological Circle. Symbol, Function, History. By Marc Auge Sciences and Cultures. Anthropological and Historical Studies of the Sciences. Edited by Everett Mendelsohn and Yehuda Elkana Australian Sociologies. By Diane J. Austin. George Allen & Unwin Social Inequality in Australian Society. By John S. Western Which Way Is Up? Essays on Class, Sex and Culture. By R. W. Connell. George Allen and Unwin The Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology, Volume 1, January 1983. Edited by Graham E. Connah Pacific Cultural Material in New Zealand Museums. By Roger Neich A Prehistory of Australia, New Guinea and Sahul. By Peter White with James F. Connell The Alligator Rivers: Prehistory and Ecology in Western Arnhem Land. By Carmel Schrire Reward and Punishment in Arnhemland 1962–1963. By Edgar Wells Daughters of the Dreaming. By Diane Bell We Are Bosses Ourselves. The Status and Role of Aboriginal Women Today. Edited by Fay Gale Sorcerers and Healing Spirits. Continuity and Change in an Aboriginal Medical System. By Janice Reid Languages of Kinship in Aboriginal Australia. Edited by Jeffrey Heath, Francesca Merlan and Alan Rumsey Searching for Aboriginal Languages: Memoirs of a Field Worker. By Bob Dixon Vanuatu: Politics, Economics and Ritual in Island Melanesia. Edited by Michael Allen Gifts and Commodities. By C. A. Gregory The Political Economy of the South Pacific. By Michael C. Howard To Find the Baruya Story. A film by Allison and Marek Jablonko and Stephen Olsson. Her Name Came on Arrows. A film by Allison and Marek Jablonko and Stephen Olsson.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.